byronic :: mad bad and dangerous to know

futurejournalismproject:

BREAKING: Advice is received that the Congress resolved upon independence the 4th of July; and, it is said, have declared war against Great Britain in form.

The first mention of the US declaration of independence in the British press occurred six weeks after the fact in the August 10-13 edition of the London Chronicle.

And that mention was just the little blurb that you see above.

Via Todd Andrlik, a collector of American Revolution era newspapers:

The London Gazette also published an August 10 to 13, 1776, issue, but it lacked any mention of the Declaration. As the official court organ, and perhaps to avoid royal embarrassment, the Gazette also refrained from printing the entire text of the Declaration while other “Mother Country” newspapers jumped at it, including the London Chronicle (Aug 17 – first in Europe), Edinburgh Advertiser (Aug 20), Edinburgh Evening Courant (Aug 21), Belfast News-Letter (Aug 27), etc.

Once upon a time the world’s news moved real slow.

Image: A brief in the London Chronicle informs the public that the US colonies declared their independence. Via Rag Linen.