Author(s)

Songchu Liu

Corresponding Author

Songchu Liu

Abstract

As the Middle Colonies gradually became the printing center in Colonial North America in later seventeenth century and first half of the eighteenth century, it also witnessed a revolution of printing industry in early America. Printers in this region experienced the shift of self-identity and role consciousness from “employed artisan” to “free merchant”, based on the context of unique political and religious circumstance. This shift was represented by the practice that the printers supported the notion of press freedom, and organize the trans-colonial, multi-business and inter-connective printing networks. William Bradford was the first printer during this transformation before his printing practice was adopted and expanded by Benjamin Franklin.

Keywords

William Bradford; the Middle Colonies; Printing