Freedom isn't free

And that goes for press freedom, too | Mindy Belz

John Ward Dunsmore/Collection of Fraunces Tavern© Museum/Superstock

Newspapers from the start of the republic have hovered at endangered species status. The Stamp Act of 1765 led to a rally cry for independence—"no taxation without representation"—in part after it became apparent to the colonists, in the words of Patrick Henry, that the duty on newspapers and other paper goods "will be extremely burthensome and grievous."

With the Stamp Act repealed and a revolution underway, freedom of the press broke out everywhere—but wasn't always lucrative. Ben Franklin purchased The Universal Instructor in All Arts and Sciences and Pennsylvania Gazette from his old boss after he declared bankruptcy. For his trouble Franklin inherited the paper's whopping 90 subscribers.