John Carter (July 21, 1745 – August 19, 1814) was an early American printer, newspaper publisher, and postmaster of Providence, Rhode Island.

For two years she managed the Gazette with great efficiency, while Carter kept the operation supplied and running smoothly, subsequently becoming a business partner with Mrs. Goddard on September 19.

In the various issues of The Providence Gazette Carter expressed his patriotic sentiments and advocated the cause of his country, through the entire era of the American Revolution.

[16] Carter played an active role in the Gaspee Affair through his newspaper, The Providence Gazette, reporting the legal proceedings and other events during its aftermath.

In 1772, HMS Gaspee, a schooner commanded by William Dudingston, in Narragansett Bay, was stationed there enforcing the Navigation Acts, involving what was regarded by the British Crown as illicit trading when it ran aground in shallow water while pursuing the packet ship Hannah.

The incident was soon scantly reported by newspapers, however, Carter in The Providence Gazette on June 13 published accounts that condemned the scheme of transporting suspects 3009 miles back to England.

Another article of December 19, 1772 stated: "The idea of seizing a number of persons, under the points of bayonets, and transporting them three thousand miles for trial ... is shocking to humanity, repugnant to every dictate of reason, liberty, and justice."

After John Cole, a member of the Assembly's committee of correspondence, unwillingly testified at the tribunal The Providence Gazette castigated him for betraying "the faith and confidence reposed in him by his country."