Journal #2

So today I’m writing about how this reading relates to what we have talked about in class. Well, the reading from the introduction is about the Declaration of Independence and other major writings that took place during this time and how they were published. While reading about the Declaration of Independence and how it was originally just printed out and distributed through the colonies. This made me think of the presentation we had in class about Christopher Columbus. He wrote this very in depth letter to the monarchs about his voyage. You would think this would be printed out and used in a newspaper but here is the catch, they didn’t have newspapers. So, the monarchs did as the colonist did later and printed it out and dispersed it throughout the cities, just on normal paper like it was a letter to anyone. This is seriously crazy to me to think about something so important not getting the recognition it deserves. It wasn’t until Benjamin Franklin rolled around that there was even a thought of a newspaper. The first one, the Pennsylvania Gazette, was established in the 1750’s. I could not imagine life without some way to mass produce the news. I can’t even imagine the world without the internet let alone a newspaper. You start to realize what we take for granted on an everyday basis.