[7] The _Massachusetts Magazine_ was illustrated with occasional engravings of cities and scenery; but it was not what we know as an illustrated magazine. Read a description of the newspapers of this time in McMaster's _History of the People of the U. S._, Vol. I, pp. 35-38. [8] Franklin is still the most popular of colonial writers. His autobiography, his _Way to Wealth_, and many of his essays are still republished and widely read. The poetry of Philip Freneau, of John Trumbull, and Francis Hopkinson is still read by many; but it was in political writing that our countrymen excelled. No people have ever produced a finer body of political literature than that called forth by the Revolution. Read McMaster's _History of the People of the U. S._, Vol. I, pp. 74-80. [9] Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Columbia, Brown, and Dartmouth. In a lottery "drawn" in 1797 for the benefit of Brown University, 9000 tickets were sold at $6 each--a total of $54,000. Of this, $8000 was kept by the university, and $46,000 distributed in 3328 prizes--2000 at $9 each, 1000 at $12 each, and the rest from $20 to $4000. [10] In the convention which framed the Constitution twenty of the fifty- five men were college graduates. Five were graduates of Princeton, three of Harvard, three of Yale, three of William and Mary, two of Pennsylvania, one of King's (now Columbia), and one each of Oxford, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. [11] The writings of men who were not college graduates--Washington, Franklin, Dickinson, and many others--speak well for the character of the early schools. [12] The journey from Boston to New York by land consumed six days, but may now be made in less than six hours. New York was a two days' journey from Philadelphia, but the distance may now be traversed in two hours. [13] One pair of horses usually dragged the stage eighteen miles, when a fresh team was put on, and if no accident happened, the traveler would reach an inn about ten at night. After a frugal meal he would betake himself to bed, for at three the next morning, even if it rained or snowed, he had to make ready, by the light of a horn lantern or a farthing candle, for another ride of eighteen hours. [14] In 1777 Vermont forbade the slavery of men and women. In 1780 Pennsylvania passed a gradual abolition act. Massachusetts by her constitution declared "All men are born free and equal," which her courts held prohibited slavery. New Hampshire in her constitution made a similar declaration with a like result. In 1784 Connecticut and Rhode Island adopted gradual abolition laws, providing that children born of a slave parent after a certain date should be free when they reached a certain age, and that their children were never to be slaves. These were states where slaves had never been much in demand, and where the industries of the people did not depend on slave labor.