Contemporary Reaction to The Chain Cent- “Liberty In Fright” vs. Natural Liberty Free & Unconfined
JCH22
Posts: 160 ✭✭✭
The National Gazette was a “pro administration” (soon to be Federalist) newspaper.
Chain cent production began in late February 1793. Most articles since describe Liberty as being depicted “in fright.” The origin of that description appears to have come from the following letter from Newark to The National Gazette, published March 16, 1793: 
That reaction however, was not universal. “A Free Man” would write a contrary glowing (or perhaps facetious) letter to the Gazette published April 6, 1793. He did have some difficulty securing an example, but once in hand viewed the “savage” depiction as representative of Liberty in her natural unconfined state:
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Comments
What is it with the printer's s punch?
God bless all who believe in him. Do unto others what you expect to be done to you. Dubbed a "Committee Secret Agent" by @mr1931S on 7/23/24. Founding member of CU Anti-Troll League since 9/24/24.
"In a fright" would have a different connotation than simply "In fright".
Young Numismatist • My Toned Coins
Life is roadblocks. Don't let nothing stop you, 'cause we ain't stopping. - DJ Khaled
That's stupid. I wonder who came up with that. 🙄
God bless all who believe in him. Do unto others what you expect to be done to you. Dubbed a "Committee Secret Agent" by @mr1931S on 7/23/24. Founding member of CU Anti-Troll League since 9/24/24.
It’f quite difficult to read. There had to be a reason for it at one time, maybe it was quicker to write that way?
I have contemporary books and even a newspaper from that time and can opin that the use of the long S in that particular newspaper is unique to them. The long S was used for double s words like issue, pass, passenger etc and not for words like small (fmall) like in the example above. In other words the usage of the long S in the example above was more the exception rather than the rule.
That April 6th letter reads like the latter to me.
It may be the first chit posting (fhit?) about US coins to ever occur. I like it.
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin