Hibernian Chronicle: John Dunlap makes publishing history (again)

The owner and publisher of the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Gazette was no neophyte. Rather, John Dunlap was by 1784 one of the nation’s most successful printers with several historical claims to fame. He’d come a long way since he emigrated from Ireland some 37 years before.
John Dunlap was born in Strabane, Co. Tyrone, in 1747. At the age of 10, he immigrated to Philadelphia to live with his uncle who owned a print shop. Young John became an apprentice to his uncle and in 1765, at the age of 18 became a journeymen printer. He worked for his uncle for a few more years until the latter decided to leave printing to become a Presbyterian minister. At that point, John took over the business. In 1771, the brash and ambitious 24-year old started his own weekly newspaper, the Pennsylvania Packet, or General Advertiser.
Competition in the newspaper business was keen in those days, but Dunlap’s venture into journalism proved very successful. Some of this success was due to Dunlap’s political views, which placed him firmly on the side of the growing agitation against British colonial policy. This earned him a loyal readership and lucrative contracts to print official documents for the Pennsylvania government. It also led to a long friendship with Benjamin Franklin and many important public figures. These contacts expanded when the Continental Congress began meeting in Philadelphia.
The highlight of Dunlap’s career came in July 1776. British soldiers and American forces had been fighting for over a year and the mood within the Continental Congress had swung in favor of declaring independence. On July 4, 1776 representatives of 12 of the 13 colonies approved Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence announcing an end to their bond with England. Immediately John Hancock, president of the Congress, ordered John Dunlap to print 200 broadside copies of the Declaration for distribution throughout the former colonies. Thus did the Dunlap broadside become one of the two classic versions of the Declaration with each copy bearing the words “Philadelphia — Printed by John Dunlap” at the bottom. The other, the hand-scripted version bearing the signatures of the Continental Congress delegates, was not completed until Aug. 2, 1776.
Incidentally, three of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were Irish-born: James Smith and George Taylor, both of Pennsylvania, and Matthew Thornton of New Hampshire. Several others were of Irish origin, including Thomas Lynch, Thomas McKean, George Read, Edward Rutledge, and Charles Carroll (the only Catholic). Charles Thomson (1729-1824), a former indentured servant from Ireland who went on to become a prosperous Philadelphia merchant, was secretary of the Continental Congress in 1776. In that capacity he was called upon to give the first reading of the Declaration of Independence before Congress.
Today, there are only 25 Dunlap broadsides in existence. The most recent discovery of one came in 1989 when a man bought a picture at a flea market for $4. He only wanted the frame and when he removed the picture he found an original Dunlap broadside hidden inside. It sold at auction for $8.14 million — not a bad return on a $4 investment.
Dunlap’s role in the Revolution was not limited to his printing press. Soon after the Declaration was issued he organized and joined a Philadelphia cavalry unit for service in the Continental Army. It was granted the special duty of providing George Washington with bodyguard protection in the early years of the war. Dunlap returned to Philadelphia in 1778 and was appointed the official printer of the Continental Congress. Two years later he gave the astonishing sum of