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William Goddard (1740–1817) was an American patriot and printer born in New London, Connecticut who lived through the era of the American Revolution. Goddard served as an apprentice printer under James Parker and then in 1762 became an early American publisher who eventually founded several newspapers during his lifetime. His mother, father and sister were also involved with printing and publishing in the middle 18th century. For a short term Goddard was also a postmaster of Providence, Rhode Island. Later his newspaper partnership with Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia would play an important role in the development of Franklin's ideas for a postal system in the soon to be united colonies. Franklin was postmaster of Philadelphia from 1759 to 1775 when he was dismissed by the British Crown for exposing the letters of Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson. Goddard's association with Franklin while he was serving as postmaster in Philadelphia played an important role when Franklin introduced many of the reforms and improvements needed in the colonial postal system in use then.〔(American Heritage Magazine, The U.S. Post Office, 1775-1974 )〕〔(New York Times/ABOUT.COM )〕 Goddard is renowned for his innovations for a postal system that came to be used for mail delivery between the various colonies prior to the advent of the American Revolution. Goddard's postal system came about as the result of a series of conflicts involving his newspaper, ''The Pennsylvania Chronicle'', and the ''Crown Post'', a postal administration and mail delivery system that was in use in the British colonies prior to the advent of American independence, under the authority of the British crown. As the idea of revolution began to surface throughout the colonies the British began manipulating the Crown Post (the colonial mail system) by blocking the mail and communications between the various colonies in an effort to prevent them from organizing with each other. The Crown also resorted to the delaying or destroying of newspapers and opening and reading private mail, a form of postal censorship that the British crown considered legal. Goddard's ''Pennsylvania Chronicle'' was sympathetic to the revolutionary ideas being put forth by Benjamin Franklin, and others, and so his publication was routinely criticized and under the constant scrutiny of the Crown Post authorities. Franklin had just fallen from grace with the British monarchy by exposing Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson with his own letters, showing him to be in collusion with British efforts to impose more laws and taxes on the colonies in America, and so his involvement with the ''Chronicle'' further prompted the Crown in their dealings with Goddard's newspaper. In their effort to see the ''Pennsylvania Chronicle'' delivered, Franklin and Goddard persevered and in the midst of British scrutiny would create a separate postal system that ultimately became the postal system in use in the United States today. With the colonies then in dire need of a postal system the committee of correspondence in Boston wrote to the committee in Salem in March 1774 suggesting that an independent postal system be set up, and introduced William Goddard as a more than qualified man for such an undertaking.〔〔(Smithsonian National Postal Museum )〕〔(Journalism Department University of Rhode Island )〕〔(The Library of Congress )〕 ==Early years== William Goddard's parents, both prominent figures in Connecticut society, were Dr. Giles Goddard, a wealthy doctor and postmaster of New London under Benjamin Franklin, and Sarah Updike Goddard who was also well educated and later ran a family printing business.〔(Baltimore Heritage )〕 Soon after Giles Goddard died, Goddard’s mother Sarah Updike moved the family to Providence, Rhode Island, where William opened his first printing business. Here in 1762 he founded the ''Providence Gazette'' and was the newspaper's publisher and editor. His friend John Carter, was the newspaper's printer.〔(Eighteenth-Century American Newspapers in the Library of Congress )〕〔Later, on September 27, 1787, the Providence Gazette under Carter printed the U.S. Constitution on the front page.〕 Carter was also taught the printing trade while serving as an apprentice under Benjamin Franklin and who later was appointed Postmaster of Providence by Franklin.〔(Rhode Island Historical Society )〕 In 1767 Goddard founded the ''Pennsylvania Chronicle''. In 1772 he founded Baltimore's first newspaper, ''The Maryland Journal'' and later ''The Baltimore Advertiser''. William's older sister was Mary Katherine Goddard who, inspired by her father, was an accomplished printer and the publisher of the ''Maryland Journal'' and the ''Baltimore Advertiser'' and who later managed her brother William's newspaper, ''The Pennsylvania Chronicle''. In 1775 she was appointed Baltimore’s first postmaster . At the time, her post office was the busiest in the nation. She held this position until 1789.〔(Maryland State Archives )〕 Mary became famous for accepting the task of publishing the first certified copy of the Declaration of Independence in January of 1777 that included the signatures of all the state delegates.〔(Distinguished Women of Past and Present )〕〔Miner, William Goddard: Newspaperman, 1962 p.166〕 Mary helped him with the Maryland Journal where she remained until 1792.〔 In 1755 William Goddard started an apprenticeship in the New Haven shop of James Parker, one of the most successful printers in the colonies at the time.〔('Encyclopedia.com' )〕 In 1762, after the death of her husband, Mary Goddard helped William, then at the age of 22, set up a printing press in Providence, Rhode Island. With the help of his mother and sister the Goddards published Providence's first newspaper, ''The Providence Gazette''. 〔〔 William, growing more restless with revolutionary sentiments, quit the Goddards' printing company in Rhode Island to start a newspaper in Philadelphia under the see of Benjamin Franklin, leaving his sister and mother to run the printing company and Gazette in Rhode Island. As revolutionary sentiments grew and the revolution with Britain drew closer William’s mother and sister took over operations at the ''Gazette'' for William when he began to spend his time and finances undertaking other business matters with Benjamin Franklin and others.〔''Mary Goddard''; (Smithsonian National Postal Museum Women in the U.S. Postal System )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Goddard (U.S. patriot/publisher)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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