National Endowment for the Humanities

Benjamin Franklin and the Pamphlet Wars: How Early Americans Waged Their Wars in Print
Before people could easily post their opinions on Twitter, they traded barbs and fiery accusations via hastily typeset and cheaply printed pamphlets, oftentimes inciting fear and fueling outrage. As with some media today, there were no rules imposing fact verification or source attribution, leading to the spread of what we might label “fake news.” Back when printing presses ruled the day, such eruptions were called “pamphlet wars.”
Read the rest at Humanities Magazine. (Image: Franklin and the Quakers by James Claypoole, published in Philadelphia, 1764. Library Company of Philadelphia)