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CHAPTER ONE A Revolution in Advertising: “Buy American” Campaigns in the Late Eighteenth Century* Carl Robert Keyes In November 1790, John Shepherd, a “merchant tailor,” placed an adver- tisement in the Pennsylvania Packet announcing that he had opened shop in Philadelphia.1 At first glance, Shepherd’s advertisement resembles many of the surrounding advertisements in general appearance: his name, occu- pation, and location come first, followed by one or two columns listing items available for purchase, and concluding with a paragraph explaining that he actually carried far more merchandise, all of it of exceptional quality, than could be listed easily. Rather than end his advertisement there, *I owe grateful appreciation to several people and institutions for helping to make this chapter possible. Toby L. Ditz carefully read and offered suggestions on an early draft. Joseph M. Adelman offered impor- tant advice during the final stages of writing and revising. A Faculty Development Grant from Assumption College and a Summer Honors Fellowship from the Honors Program at the College made it possible to hire three undergraduate research assistants: Paula T. DeCosta, Elena Despotopulos, and Mark Mulligan made valuable contributions identifying many of the eighteenth-century advertisements in this chapter. The McNeil Center for Early American Studies, the Program in Early American Economy and Society at the Library Company of Philadelphia, the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, the David Library of the American Revolution, and Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library provided funding at various stages of this project. The curators, archivists, and other staff at those insti- tutions, as well as the American Antiquarian Society and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, shared their knowledge of their collections and graciously worked with me in accessing fragile original documents.