Jedidiah Morse and the Transformation of Print Culture in New England, 1784-1826

Reference Type Journal Article
Year of Publication
1999
Contributors Author: Leon Jackson
Journal
Early American Literature
Volume
34
Issue
1
Pagination
2-31
Language
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Region
Chronological Period
Abstract
The development and denouement of early national controversies over the meanings of printedness can be seen particularly clearly in the life and work of Jedidiah Morse, an important minister and man of letters in the young republic. Indeed, Morse serves as a perfect example of the way in which late eighteenth and early nineteenth century thinkers struggled to understand what it meant to take a manuscript and render it in print. In this essay, I discuss three competing understandings of the printed word that vied for prominence in early America, before showing how Morse sought to negotiate each model during the course of a twenty-five year career as one of America's leading authors and religious controversalists.