“Of a Dangerous Nature”: Quaker Publishing and Colonial Censorship in the 1690s

Abstract: In the 1690s, America saw its first two trials for seditious libel: those of the Quakers William Bradford and Thomas Maule. Neither trial produced a conviction, and both marked a divergence between American and English practice in the role of juries in seditious libel cases. This paper examines these two trials and their context within the development of American censorship in the years immediately following the Glorious Revolution. In an era of rapidly degrading public trust in government, the trials of William Bradford and Thomas Maule demonstrate a growing public sympathy towards a de-regulated press, as well as illustrating the challenges faced by colonial governors in controlling the transmission of the printed word.