The ''Pennsylvania Packet and the General Advertiser'' was an American newspaper founded in 1771 that, in 1784, became the first successful daily newspaper published in the United States.
The paper was founded by
John Dunlap
John Dunlap (1747 – 27 November 1812) was an early American printer who emigrated from Ireland and who printed the first copies of the United States Declaration of Independence and was one of the most successful Irish/American printers of his ...
as a weekly paper in late 1771. It was based in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
except during the
British occupation
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
of the city in 1777–1778, when Dunlap published the paper at
Lancaster. David C. Claypoole eventually became a partner with Dunlap. As of September 21, 1784, the paper was issued as the ''Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser'', reflecting the paper's move to daily publication.
The paper subsequently underwent additional name changes, dropping the ''Pennsylvania Packet'' prefix in 1791, and becoming ''Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser'' (1791–1793), ''Dunlap and Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser'' (1793–1795), and ''Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser'' (1796-1800).
On September 21, 1796, it was the first to publish
George Washington's Farewell Address
Washington's Farewell Address is a letter written by American President George Washington as a Valediction, valedictory to "friends and fellow-citizens" after 20 years of public service to the United States. He wrote it near the end of his sec ...
.
In 1800,
Zachariah Poulson purchased the paper and renamed it ''Poulson's American Daily Advertiser''.
In 1825, the
Marquis De Lafayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...
granted an interview to "Poulson's Advertiser" during his
famous visit to the United States.
Poulson ran the paper for almost 40 years, and at end of 1839 sold out to the owners of the recently founded ''
North American
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
''. The ''North American'' featured the 1771 founding of the ''Packet'' as its heritage. To the extent it can honestly be traced past this point, the final successor of the ''Packet'' can be said to be ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...
''.
[Watson, John Fanning]
Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in Olden Time, Vol. 2
p. 34-35 (1844)[Scharf, J. Thomas and Wescott, Thompson]
History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Volume 3
p. 1966-68 (1884)[ Lee, Alfred McClung]
The Daily Newspaper in America: The Evolution of a Social Instrument
p.169-70 (1937)
See also
*
Early American publishers and printers
Early American publishers and printers played a central role in the social, religious, political and commercial developments in colonial America, before, during, and after the American Revolution. Printing and publishing in the 17th and 18th ce ...
*
Newspapers of colonial America
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
References
Newspapers established in 1771
Defunct newspapers published in Pennsylvania
Defunct newspapers of Philadelphia
1771 establishments in Pennsylvania
Publications disestablished in 1840
1840 disestablishments in the United States
Newspapers of colonial America
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