Newspapers: The Spring of Knowledge

1. Newspapers became popular in the British North American colonies because it was one of the ways that people can voice their ideas and opinions without fears.    Through newspapers, they were able to expose their dissenting opinions to the public without fears.  After all, most of the settlers were sent to America because of they were dissenters; they spoke against the Church of England.  In the New World, they wanted to be free to broadcast their dissenting opinions.  Newspapers also became popular because it was an age of enlightenment, where individuals were seeking answers and asking questions about their world.  Our text says that enlightenment ideas encouraged people “to study the world around them, to think for themselves, and to ask . .”  Newspapers made this possible.

2.    Newspapers contributed to the union of the colonists because they had many experiences in common.  All the colonies (New England, Middle, and Southern colonies) were under the dominion of the British monarchy.  It was British policies that controlled trade, which was their economic security.  All the colonies had enemies on their borders including the Indians, French, and Spanish.   Newspapers made it possible for the colonists to realize and became aware that they had the same problems.

3.   Newspapers had a huge influence in the political changes occurring in the colonies because it made it possible or information to spread quickly.  Newspapers made it possible for people to become aware of the political issues at home and abroad.   It helped to “form public opinion” about the political changes through such newspaper as the New England Courant, which dared to expose the truth about officials and government institutions (American Promise, pg. 160).