The problem of fake news has been with us from the beginning of the Republic, and American democracy was even worse at dealing with it then than it is now.
Noah Webster was an all-around do-gooder of the founding generation. He is remembered specifically for his blue-backed speller and the leading role he played in the creation of an American dictionary. In the speller, first published in 1783, he supplied a much-needed textbook. With it and other schoolbooks, Webster helped spread the founding mythos of the republic. In his 1828 dictionary, he built a monument to American authors and usage. But, in the course of a busy remarkable life, Webster made numerous other contributions as well.
Webster pioneered the lecture circuit and offered singing lessons for a fee. As a writer and a political thinker, he was known to many of the great names of his time. He visited Mount Vernon to see George Washington, who passed along the young man’s pamphlet,
NorthAmerica-webb-1763 SOLD
Title
A Map of North America, and the West India Islands, with part of South America, Europe, Africa and The Atlantic Ocean with It s Islands von Benjamin Webb gezeichnet.
1763 (undated)
Description
This is a beautifully executed c. 1763 manuscript map by Benjamin Webb, a German emigre working in London and a sometime correspondent with Benjamin Franklin. The map depicts the British Colonies in North America and the Atlantic, highlighting the European spheres of influence pursuant to the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years War (1756 - 1763). It is uniformly meticulous and completed in a fine hand. It very likely was produced by Webb as part of his employment as a schoolmaster in London. Webb s map utilizes a geographical framework of mid-eighteenth century German cartography but includes numerous annotations bringing the map up to date with the 1763 Treaty of Paris. The combination of these elements are unique to this
There may be no two personalities more distant and yet more prominent in their own ways in the 20th century world of free speech than conservative talk radioâs Rush Limbaugh and the owner of San Franciscoâs famed City Lights bookstore, poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
The universe does move in mysterious, and yet connected, ways.
Ferlinghetti, 101, died Feb. 22. Limbaugh, 70, died last week. Each pushed the boundaries of the nationâs social standards in a persistent drive to illuminate, criticize and correct societyâs faults and missteps â and they employed and enjoyed the First Amendmentâs protection of free speech and free press in those efforts.