1758-18O3 Journalist

Flight.

Born in Scotland around 1758, James Thomson Callender wrote a pamphlet called Political Progress of Britain (1792), which led to his indictment for sedition in 1793. He fled first to Ireland and then to the United States, where he found part-time work with both Mathew Carey, writing a section for a new edition of William Guthrie's A New System of Modern Geography (1770) and for John Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser. In December Callender was hired by the Federal Gazette to record congressional speeches.

Congressional Reporter.

Congress did not have an official stenographer; instead, newspaper reporters would try to take down what was said in shorthand, leading to many accidental and intentional inaccuracies. Callender was a fast writer with a passion for accuracy and precision. He delighted in recording the impromptu comments of some members of Congress, sharing with newspaper readers the sometimes incomprehensible ramblings of...