Crossing the Pond

In 1772, several religious and educational groups in Pennsylvania held a joint lottery to raise money simultaneously for each of their organizations. The managers explained in the advertisement the specific causes for which adventurers would be providing funds: to finish building a Presbyterian Church in Norrington Township, to purchase land and build a German Lutheran Church in Whitpan Township, and to aid the Newark Academy, with the remainder “to be given to three Schoolmasters in Philadelphia, for the Purpose of purchasing some useful Books and Mathematical Instruments for the Benefit of their Schools.” These groups joined together to produce one lottery that would provide greater monetary prizes for ticket purchasers rather than have several individual lotteries with small monetary prizes that could prove more difficult to attract adventurers. The managers referred to this point when they noted that with their lottery “the advantages” of their proposal “will be found preferable to most, and exceeded by none yet offered to the Public.” ¹ This scheme shows the myriad of causes that colonial lotteries helped support, the types of projects for which the lotteries hoped to raise funds, and the payoffs that adventurers sought when purchasing lottery tickets. By purchasing a ticket for roughly a guinea (twenty-one shillings), an adventurer here could potentially win £600. The scheme also alludes to the pluralism in colonial society—several different groups who saw the validity of each other’s presence worked together to achieve their common goals through a lottery.