To Thomas Jefferson from John Binns, 13 April 1804
From John Binns
Northumberland Pennsylvania April 13, 1804.
Sir,
The Governor of this State having done me the honour to authorise me to print, in the Republican Argus a newspaper printed by me in this town, all the laws of a public or general nature passed during the late session of the Pennsylvania Legislature: I presume to acquaint you with the fact and take the freedom respectfully to solicit the honour of your approbation to my printing the laws of Congress.
It would be impertinent in me to say any thing of the Principles or Character of the Republican Argus, the approbation which it has received from the Executive of this State is its best eulogium and its best recommendation.
With sentiments of the highest respect and admiration I Remain Sir, Your most obedient Servant
John Binns.
RC (DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters Received Regarding Publishers of the Laws); at foot of text: “Hon’ble Thos. Jefferson President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 23 Apr. and so recorded in SJL with notation “to print laws there. S.”; endorsed by a clerk.
John Binns (1772-1860) was the editor of the Northumberland County Republican Argus and later the Philadelphia Democratic Press between 1802 and 1829. Born in Ireland, Binns became a member of the Dublin Society of United Irishmen and the London Corresponding Society during the 1790s. After two years’ imprisonment, Binns emigrated to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania near fellow exiles Thomas Cooper and Joseph Priestley. As a newspaper editor, Binns played a key role in the emergence of Pennsylvania’s Republican “Quid” faction and the election of Governor Simon Snyder in 1808. Binns was a firm proponent of industrialization, a position that helped shape his political evolution from Jeffersonian Republican to Whig. During the 1820s, Binns bitterly opposed Andrew Jackson, served as a Philadelphia city alderman, and eventually published his autobiography in 1854 (; James Quinn, “Binns, John,” in James McGuire and James Quinn, eds., Dictionary of Irish Biography [Cambridge, 2009]; Jeffrey L. Pasley, “The Tyranny of Printers”: Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic [Charlottesville, 2001], 222-3; John Binns, Recollections of the Life of John Binns [Philadelphia, 1854]; Andrew Ellicott to TJ, 1 Dec. 1803).
governor of this state: on 23 Mch., Thomas McKean authorized the Northumberland Republican Argus to print Pennsylvania’s laws, and on 22 July 1805, the treasury of Pennsylvania paid Binns for this service (Samuel Hazard and others, eds., Pennsylvania Archives. Selected and Arranged from Original Documents in the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, 119 vols. [Harrisburg, 1852-1935], 9th ser., 3:2012; Journal of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Which Commenced at Lancaster, the Fourth Day of December, in the Year of Our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Four [Lancaster, 1805], 102).