Competition, 1719-1732

Abstract Newspaper publishing in America, monopolized for fifteen years by the postmaster of Boston, entered a new phase at the end of 1719. John Campbell acquired a head-on competitor in the person of his successor in the Boston postmastership, and a young printer of Philadelphia began a newspaper that for most of the decade to come would have to itself the news and advertising market from Ne”‘ York to the Chesapeake. By contrast with the long monopoly of the Boston News-Letter in British America, the provincial cities of England were sprouting newspapers for a vastly larger readership at a rapid rate. By the end of 1715, there were 2 3 country newspapers in 11 English towns outside of London; over the next decade, when exactly four newspapers would be founded in the mainland colonies and one in Jamaica, another 25 would appear in provincial England.