The New England Courant

The New England Courant was the newspaper that Franklin's brother started in Boston. According to Franklin's autobiography, it was the second paper to start in America. It was in the Courant where Franklin first tested his persuasive writing skills. He wrote letters to the paper under a false name. The letters were printed in the Courant and became very popular. When Franklin's brother, James, was arrested for printing a controversial issue and not revealing his source, he was forbidden by law to run a newspaper in his name. So James continued to run his paper, but changed the name to Benjamin Franklin's.

Print Type

Because metal was not yet made in America, printing supplies had to be ordered from England. The print type was a set of tiny metal letters that were arranged to spell out words and sentences. If the quality of the...