The Rivalry of Christoph Sauer and Benjamin Franklin in Pennsylvania

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, language: English, abstract: While at first glance Sauer's and Franklin's competition occurred only in the realm of printing, this paper, however, argues that, in positions as influential figures, their rivalry was mainly manifested in the political scene of colonial Pennsylvania. A few years after his immigration in 1724, Christoph Sauer became the most active publisher of German-language print. In fact, he was famously known for his German almanac and for the German Bible that he published in 1743 which was the first Bible ever to be printed in a European language on the new continent. He also made a name for himself by printing newspapers, sermons and hymnals. Moreover, he became the voice of many German immigrants' opinions and religious beliefs, for which the printer got a lot of attention. On this occasion, Sauer had to face a strong competitor, the celebrated scientist and printer Benjamin Franklin.