Did Benjamin Franklin successfully thwart cancel culture?

Here is “presidential historian” Jane Hampton Cook yesterday on Fox News:

"cancel culture wasn't as big a problem in the decades after [benjamin] franklin, because he laid those standards" pic.twitter.com/61zhQTGl91
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) April 21, 2021

Cook’s appearance follows this article at Fox News.

What qualifies one as a “presidential historian?” Unfortunately, Cook doesn’t really know what she is talking about here.

Cook comes from the God and country school of writing about the past. She writes books for conservative and Christian presses such as Regnery, Thomas Nelson, Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, AMG, and God and Country Press.

I will let Joseph Adelman, a historian of the early American press, respond to Cook’s appearance:

The underlying point is about something Franklin published in his Pennsylvania Gazette in 1731 that’s become known as the “Apology for Printers” in which he argues that printers should operate “free and open” presses and not be held liable for the content of their papers. /2
— Joseph M. Adelman (@jmadelman) April 21, 2021

First, a press was supposed to be “free” in the sense of being free from government interference. Franklin argued that governments should not be permitted to license printers beforehand (declaring that only certain publishers could print), and could not censor publications. /4
— Joseph M. Adelman (@jmadelman) April 21, 2021

Underlying all of this, therefore, was Franklin making a business argument: don’t blame me for what’s in the newspaper, I’m just the guy who sets type and pulls the press! This is, to use the fancy term, a bit of malarkey, and also specific to the context of the 18th century. /6
— Joseph M. Adelman (@jmadelman) April 21, 2021

For many other 18th century printers, the strategy was defensive. Most operated in markets—if we can call them that—that were small enough they could barely keep a single printing office afloat. You literally couldn’t afford to anger a whole segment of the community. /8
— Joseph M. Adelman (@jmadelman) April 21, 2021

A lot of this changed during the imperial crisis and the American Revolution, when printers began to publish in a far more partisan manner. (This is where I suggest you head over to my book, Revolutionary Networks, for more.) /10
— Joseph M. Adelman (@jmadelman) April 21, 2021

For a short version of what printers we’re doing in the Revolution, I did an essay for @ageofrevs: https://t.co/aVKgivtPwh /12
— Joseph M. Adelman (@jmadelman) April 21, 2021

John Fea

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