The print practice of martyrology in British North America, 1688-1787

Supplementing a market in books that was principally sourced by importation from London, printers living in the English colonies of North America—and, later, in the newly independent United States—produced print material addressing the reality of death as a routine and ongoing matter of practice. Across this vast and diverse array of publications, they frequently represented martyrdom as the archetype of an ideal death. This dissertation argues that the production, distribution and use of printed material imbued with martyrological themes was a catechetical practice aimed at instructing and informing right conduct in individuals, and maintaining right order in communities. All who participated in the production, distribution and use of this kind of print material—authors, printers, people involved in the sale and distribution of printed material, and consumers—were engaged in a practice that can be rightly called the “print practice of martyrology.” This dissertation considers the print practice of martyrology in 18th-century British North America through the lens of four well-known cultural artefacts from the era of the American Revolution—Patrick Henry’s “liberty or death” speech, Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre, John Dickinson’s Liberty Song, and the legend that grew up around the execution of Nathan Hale.