John Dunlap's place in the journalism history of North America is secure: he was the first American to publish a successful daily newspaper. He was memorable, however, for other reasons as well. Inspection of Dunlap's career reveals a canny businessman, soldier, politician, and speculator who worked adroitly in late-eighteenth-century Philadelphia to establish a substantial fortune. Dunlap achieved financial success by mixing public pursuits with his printing business.

Dunlap was born in Tvrone, County Strabane, Ireland, in 1747, and was sent to Philadelphia in 1757 to be apprenticed to his uncle, printer-bookseller William Dunlap, who had just moved to Philadelphia as postmaster after serving in a similar position in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1766 William Dunlap sold his stock of books and put his printing house in the care of his nineteen-year-old nephew. After two years of religious studies in England, William Dunlap became an Anglican priest and took charge of the parish...