About
“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.”
–Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787.
In the first decades of independence, Jefferson and the other “founding fathers” debated what would be the role of government in the new republic of the United States of America. Throughout the period, newspapers played an important part in briefing – and often polarizing – the public. Factions emerged among the political class, as well as within the general public. By the time the Constitution was being ratified in 1787, modern political parties had emerged, organized around a series of ideological debates. Though newspapers covered the debate with politically slanted and ideologically charged editorials, within their pages also existed the raw materials to build America’s common political identity.
What Jefferson recognized, and what is expressed in the quote above, is that the free flow of information was – and remains – essential to democratic culture. Beyond that, Jefferson knew that information alone is without value unless the public is both educated and engaged. Thus, newspapers and schools were early recognized as the pillars of democracy. Along the way, libraries emerged as an additional buttress.
Today we see these institutions in crisis – in ways and for reasons that I will not attempt to discuss here. This blog is not the solution to these problems – not even in a small way. In fact, most of the time, Jefferson’s Newspaper will not address issues even remotely related to “the problem.” I just liked the quote and hastily bought a domain name. The initial vision was for a site dedicated solely to educational technology, DIY publishing, and the digital humanities. Although we will certainly muse and opine on these issues, our interests are more varied and as such we will occasionally drift far afield of such topics. Nevertheless…
As educators, historians, technologists and librarians, we believe we are in a unique position to not only provide information, but to put it in a critical, useful, and occasionally entertaining context. As sarcastic punk rock badasses, we we have limited attention spans and fleeting levels of long-term commitment and know that none of this really matters in the end.
Thanks for checking us out. Be sure to drop a line in the comments now and then to let us know what you think.
–From the desk of the Jefferson’s Newspaper editors
