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The Freedom And Impartiality Of Your Press
This past Monday was World Press Freedom Day, and the theme “Information as a Public Good” was just as relevant 250 years ago as it is...

HistoricAnnapolis
May 6, 20213 min read


Turning Tables
Two hundred fifty years ago, Joshua Johnson was about to embark on a bold commercial venture. The Annapolis merchant placed an ad in the...

HistoricAnnapolis
Apr 22, 20213 min read


Rumors Of War
England and France engaged in military conflict with one another for 73 of the 126 years between 1689 and 1815, or almost 60% of the...

HistoricAnnapolis
Apr 8, 20214 min read


The Propriety Of A Private Inspection
In the five months since Maryland’s official tobacco inspection system stopped functioning because of a political dispute between...

HistoricAnnapolis
Mar 25, 20213 min read


The Course of Human Affairs
I’ve commented before about the innate delays in 18th-century reporting. Because the latest news could travel only as fast as a horse...

HistoricAnnapolis
Mar 12, 20213 min read


A Slow News Cycle
Some news cycles are lighter than others, and that was just as true 250 years ago as it is today. Of course, some 21st-century media work...

HistoricAnnapolis
Feb 25, 20212 min read


Just A Few Queries
I’ve written before (see my November 5, 2020, November 26, 2020, and January 14, 2021 blog entries) about Governor Robert Eden’s...

HistoricAnnapolis
Feb 12, 20213 min read


Off To A Rough Start
It would be a wonderful world if old problems simply disappeared with the start of a new year, but that’s not the real world that we...

HistoricAnnapolis
Jan 14, 20212 min read


Rising Joys
Christmas Eve 2020 is a fitting day to look back to a Christmas poem published in the Maryland Gazette 250 years ago. The verses penned...

HistoricAnnapolis
Dec 24, 20202 min read


Liberty is what we are all contending for...
Two months had passed since a group of Baltimore merchants called for a meeting in Annapolis to consider whether Maryland should continue...

HistoricAnnapolis
Dec 10, 20203 min read


A Predictable Pattern
Maryland’s last proprietary governor, Robert Eden, was nothing if not predictable. Early in his administration, he established a pattern...

HistoricAnnapolis
Nov 26, 20202 min read


Unanimous Resolutions
Following her husband Samuel’s death in August 1770, Anne Middleton assumed control of the family’s Annapolis tavern and ferrying...

HistoricAnnapolis
Nov 5, 20203 min read


Cracks in the Wall
By the autumn of 1770, serious cracks were appearing in the American colonies’ united front against unpopular British policies. More than...

HistoricAnnapolis
Oct 15, 20203 min read


A Dramatic Scheme
Last month, I wrote about actress Nancy Hallam, who caught the eye of an Annapolis gentleman (most likely Rev. Jonathan Boucher, rector...

HistoricAnnapolis
Oct 8, 20202 min read


What's The Story?
It is for a gentleman to whom I have done (as the Saying is) Ninety-nine good Turns..." I sometimes come across a notice in the Maryland...

HistoricAnnapolis
Sep 24, 20202 min read


Agreeable to the Association
In September 1770, more than a year into a partial economic shutdown, many Annapolitans were weary but still committed to seeing it...

HistoricAnnapolis
Sep 18, 20204 min read


In Praise of Artistic Genius
The anonymous gentleman was smitten. He had just attended the American Company’s performance of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, King of Britain,...

HistoricAnnapolis
Sep 10, 20204 min read


Melted Majesty
These days, most news stories about public statues consider them as objects of destructive rather than constructive acts, but 250 years...

HistoricAnnapolis
Sep 3, 20204 min read


Warm Zeal in the Cause of Liberty
For the past few weeks, I’ve been looking at the dispute between Annapolis merchants Williams and Company and the local Committee of...

HistoricAnnapolis
Aug 21, 20204 min read


First Notorious Offenders
In today’s technologically advanced and politically divided world, virtual skirmishes, battles, and full-blown wars play out in real time...

HistoricAnnapolis
Aug 13, 20204 min read

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