Today, news travels fast. We hate to admit it, but even what is printed inside these pages can sometimes be labeled “old news” as many people get their news on social media. However, newspapers still play an important role in society providing accurate and noteworthy stories.

Recently, we wrote about the holiday of Juneteenth and how news of the emancipation of slavery did not reach some African Americans until two years later. 

On this day in history, July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed. How did news reach the newly formed American people? There was no Internet, no social media, nor email. 

The history of America is also the history of the news media. 

The first time the Declaration of Independence was printed in a newspaper was on July 6, 1776, in the Pennsylvania Evening Post. On the top of the page it says, “Price only Two Coppers” (does anyone know how much that would be today?).

Before that, on the night of July 4, printer John Dunlap made 200 quick copies called “broadsides” (large paper posters) and the “Post Riders” (deliverymen on horseback) took them across the colonies. From there, local town printers took the posters and printed the text in their own town newspapers.

According to the American Revolution Museum, most Americans read or heard the words of the Declaration of Independence via newspapers and printed broadsides. By the end of August 1776, the Declaration had been reprinted in at least 29 newspapers and 14 broadsides.

“Two hundred fifty years ago, the Declaration of Independence was adopted in Philadelphia,” writes Dean Ridings, President and CEO of America’s Newspapers. “But America did not become a country only in that room. It became a country as the news moved from community to community. Most colonists did not witness the debates of the Continental Congress. They learned about independence through the newspapers that served their towns and colonies.”

Here we stand 250 years later. The country looks very different. And the way people receive the news looks very different. But the essence of journalism, and the commitment to public service, remains the same. Happy Independence Day to one and all!