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Pittsburgh Gazette; George Kline and George Reynolds' The Carlisle
Gazette, and the Western Repository of Knowledge; Matthias Bartgis
and Thomas Roberts' Pennsylvania Chronicle or the York Weekly
Advertiser; and Anton Stiemer, Johann Albrecht, and Jacob Lahn's
Neue Unpartheyische Lancaster Zeitung, und Anzeigs-Nachrichten.
The biweekly (published once every two weeks) was Michael Bill-
meyer's Die Germantauner Zeitung. The Carlisle and Pittsburgh
gazettes were Federalist newspapers published in Federalist towns lo-
cated in predominately Antifederalist counties. Not enough issues of
the Pennsylvania Chronicle, which began publication on 24 October
1787, exist to determine its political affiliations. The German-language
newspapers were Federalist.
The Constitution was printed in eleven of the state's extant news-
papers and in both magazines. In addition to newspaper coverage, the
Constitution was also printed in broadsides, pamphlets, and almanacs;
and, on 24-25 September, the Assembly authorized the printing of
the Constitution in English and in German at state expense.
Pennsylvania printers, particularly those in Philadelphia, also print-
ed pamphlets and broadsides on the need to strengthen the central
government and on the merits or defects of the Constitution. Between
17 October 1787 and 27 April 1788, six Philadelphia printers and one
in Carlisle published seven pamphlets which were original treatises
on the Constitution. Two Philadelphia publishers printed pamphlets
of material originating outside Pennsylvania, such as George Wash-
ington's letter of June 1783 to the state executives and Luther Martin's
"Genuine Information." Philadelphia printers also printed as broad-
sides such items as "Centinel," "An American Citizen," and "An Old
Whig," which had previously appeared in Pennsylvania newspapers.
The Sources for the Pennsylvania Convention
The sources consist of the Journals of the Convention, notes of
debates taken by private reporters and delegates, and newspaper sum-
maries of proceedings and debates. There are no private letters or
diaries written by members of the Convention or by observers which
provide any substantive information.
The printed Journals of the Convention contain an incomplete
account of the Convention's proceedings, and no manuscript version
has been located. The Convention authorized David and William
Hall and William Sellers to publish 3,000 copies in English and
Melchior Steiner to publish 2,000 copies in German. The English
version is entitled Minutes of the Convention of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania . .. (Philadelphia, 1787), and the German version is
39
SOURCES