When we left Mary in the last blog, she had just taken over
as publisher of the Journal and Advertiser, putting her name as publisher on
the masthead as M. H. Goddard on May 10, 1775.
This was also the year Mary became the first female
postmaster in America. These positions put her at the center of the information
flow right at the start of the war for independence, at a time when the public
was thirsty for news.
These were tough economic times and it took all of Mary’s
intelligence and courage to keep publishing the paper and the mail circulating.
The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776,
but the copies circulating through the colonies did not contain the names of
the signers because they could be arrested for treason. As a courageous
newswomen Mary changed that when in January 1777, she published the Declaration
including the names of the signers. This forced the signers to stand behind
their signatures and support the cause more openly.
Her brother, William, who had been unsuccessful thus far
with his endeavors at publishing, the postal system and politics, fought his
sister for control of the paper and won, in 1784 removing her name from the
masthead. She had not missed publishing an edition of the paper from when she
took it over in 1775 until her brother and the courts took it away from her.
The new Constitution adopted was not favorable to women
(until we fought for amendments) and Mary’s post office job went to a male
appointee. Mary appealed these injustices but to no avail. Thereafter, she ran
a bookstore in Baltimore until her death in 1816.
