On September 21, 1784, Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Packet became the Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser, widely regarded as the first successful daily newspaper in the United States. The paper had been founded by printer John Dunlap in 1771 as a weekly publication; after appearing biweekly and then triweekly in 1778, it adopted a daily schedule in 1784. David C. Claypoole, Dunlap’s former apprentice and later business partner, played a central role in the paper’s development.
The change reflected Philadelphia’s expanding commercial and political importance after the Revolutionary War. A daily paper could deliver more frequent news of shipping, trade, prices, government, and events abroad to the city’s merchants and residents. Advertising also formed a crucial part of the newspaper’s business model, helping support the demanding work of daily printing.
The publication had already played an important part in the Revolutionary era. During the British occupation of Philadelphia in 1777–78, the paper was printed in Lancaster before returning to Philadelphia. Dunlap had earlier printed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation for the Continental Congress. In 1787, Dunlap and Claypoole, printers for the Constitutional Convention, produced the first authorized newspaper publication of the full U.S. Constitution in the Pennsylvania Packet.
The paper also made history in 1796 as the first newspaper to publish George Washington’s Farewell Address. Its move to daily publication helped establish a model that would become central to American business, politics, and public life.
Image: A 1787 issue of the Pennsylvania Packet via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
