Isaiah Thomas

Isaiah Thomas, a formidable voice in the dawn of American independence, was far more than just a printer; he was a revolutionary in ink. Through his widely circulated newspaper, "The Massachusetts Spy," he fearlessly stoked the flames of liberty, publishing scathing critiques of British rule that often endangered his own life. Indeed, the British considered him so dangerous that they included him on a list of twelve people to be summarily executed. Just days before the Battles of Lexington and Concord, he bravely smuggled his printing press out of Boston to Worcester, ensuring the vital flow of information continued even as war erupted. From his new base, he published the first eyewitness account of those pivotal battles, a report that galvanized colonial resistance. After the war, his printing empire flourished, making him one of the wealthiest men in the new nation, and his enduring legacy was cemented with the founding of the American Antiquarian Society, a testament to his dedication to preserving the written record of a nation he helped bring into being.