Have you ever felt that the measure of your success, in a particular project or area of your life, wasn’t fully appreciated until much after the fact? That other’s, or yourself, only reaped the benefits of your wisdom further down the road?

Today I present to you one such story.

I doubt that Benjamin Harris, founder and publisher of “Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick,” felt this way, but only because he was very much not alive by the time that his wisdom had its benefits fully recognized within the context of society.

Benjamin Harris was, as aforementioned, the publisher of “Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick,” during the year of 1690, which would come to be widely recognized as the first Colonial-American Newsletter. In his early life, Harris was a speaker and a scholar born of English origin, speaking out against many of the injustices and tyranny that lay with the corrupt political landscape of Britain at the time. By the time he was middleaged, he had already been jailed in London twice for handing out “seditious” pamphlets, which spoke out against many of the injustices he preached.

Britain at the time, and still in many regards today, did not have the press freedom for the common man to speak out against what he thought was wrong. Any such act was not only considered taboo, but downright treasonous to their political ideology. Before long, Harris saw that he was not well liked in his home city of London. Due to facing many fines, and possibly a third sentence of jail time, he fled to the American Colonies in the year 1686, deciding to take his practices elsewhere.

Unfortunately however, what Harris failed to see was the foreshadowing that his early life would hold. 

During the time in the Colonies, the would-be country was in much disarray; facing raids all throughout the territories by Native American tribes, political uprising of people taking a hard stance against the authority of Government and Court systems, not to mention being amidst a war between France and the Indies. It was a time of widespread corruption, misinformation, and rumors.

Of course it was, for how could it not be? The colonialists had no political system in place that gave them representation in government affairs, no voice to speak out against what they thought was wrong, and most importantly: no platform to do so if they did wish to.

This was the exact problem Benjamin Harris sought to solve. WIth a bit of help from a friend of his, Richard Pierce, the minds and the machines of this operation came together, and Harris declared he would make the first, multipage, free, American Colonial Newsletter –right from his new home of Boston.

As we learn however, history does have a tendency to repeat itself, and this story is no different.

Harris made two, to three major mistakes in this paper’s publishing, depending on your sources. For one, he did not get the governor of Boston, Simon Bradstreet's stamp approval, which was explicitly required for all printed documents at the time in Boston. In this, he made his second mistake, failing to get “Pre-Censorship Approval” from the proper authorities, another item that was explicitly required. On top of both of those things, this newsletter was a far cry from what one would call a “Soft Launch.” In the four pages the man had, he decided to use two of them to explicitly call out high ranking government officials on their fallacies in what they practice, versus what they preach.

Of course, this paper was doomed from the start, and within just four days of its release, it was immediately seized and suspended indefinitely by the Government.

Serving only a single publication, it may seem unclear why this newsletter is such an important topic of discussion today. To that end, I present to you two answers:

Firstly (and fittingly so) it was the first “American” newsletter, marking a crucial start to the press in our soon to be great nation at the time. The second answer is that this single, four page, four day, one print newsletter gave rise to a question that would haunt colonialists for the next decade: “Why is suppression of speech just, if that same speech is true?”

This newsletter didn’t just mark the beginning of American News, but the beginning of the fight for freedom of the press in America; The beginning of the questions we had to ask ourselves as a nation in how we would define ourselves; The beginning of the very words that would be signed in our Declaration’s First Amendment.

Me in 500 words.

William Hughes

Vegas night, 2024
Aspetuck Valley Country Club

Lean into it, Willie Boy!

“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway” —John Wayne. That’s a quote my dad always told me when I was a kid, and to a certain extent, it’s how I try to live my life.

"You got to lean into it Willie Boy!" —To this day, I have no idea where this quote came from. I've looked it up in the past, and from my knowledge, even the internet doesn't know, referring to it simply as a "common idiom." What I do know is that my father, William J Hughes, has been telling me the same quote over and over since I was a lad; the same way his father, William E Hughes had been telling him.

Growing up, my father was essentially a walking book of wisdom, and it’s much through that wisdom I find my own comes from.

From a very early age I was taught that your life is what you make of it, and that what you got out of it would be a direct equivalent to what you put into it. That meant to achieve my goals, I would have to put in equal parts work and courage.

I was also taught that in order to be successful in life, I needed to be respectful. My father would reassure me that if I wanted to be successful in the world one day, I needed a few very important qualities; qualities such as integrity, chivalry, and manners. Alongside being a gentleman, I also learned to be my own person, and that the happiest people out there are those who do what they love.

The ultimate thing my father taught me was that I needed to, “lean into it,” this can be interpreted many different ways, though he usually says it when there’s a speech or presentation I’m nervous for; job interviews, social events, leadership meetings, exams, you name it, and this quote can be applied.

Very quickly when I was wee, my father showed me something he was passionate about. He never forced it onto me, nor did even expect me to partake in it, but very quickly, guitar and music would become a critical part of my entire life.

I still remember the days as a lad when I’d sit in my dad’s office, listening to whatever he had on at the time. From as early as 10 years old, I had a guitar in my hands. Even when I didn’t know how to play or what I was doing, I still held it, just imagining I was the one playing those warm blues and bluegrass tunes like my dad does.

When I turned 14, I got my first guitar, and the rest has been history. For the past eight years, my father and I have been jamming to every blues, country, and bluegrass tune imaginable. It’s our home away from our home, no matter where we are. No matter how uncomfortable, if we have a guitar, we’re happy as can be.