The Tyranny of Printers': Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic

CONTENTS......Page 8
ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 10
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 12
A NOTE ON CONVENTIONS AND METHODS......Page 18
THE PARTISAN PRESS RECONSIDERED......Page 22
UNEVEN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE ORIGINS OF THE NEWSPAPER ROLE......Page 31
NEWSPAPER EDITORS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY POLITICS......Page 34
ARTISANS WITH BOOKISH INCLINATIONS: THE COLONIAL PRINTERS......Page 45
PRINT, PRINTERS, AND POLITICAL ELITES IN COLONIAL AMERICA......Page 49
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND THE BEGINNINGS OF PARTISANSHIP......Page 54
SERVING THE FOUNDERS: PRINTERS AND NEWSPAPERS AFTER THE REVOLUTION......Page 61
3 The Two National Gazettes and the Beginnings of Newspaper Politics......Page 69
DEFENDING THE STATE AND IMAGINING THE NATION: JOHN FENNO'S GAZETTE OF THE UNITED STATES......Page 72
THE FAILURE OF FENNO'S "NATIONAL PLAN"......Page 77
THE STATESMEN AND THEIR SURROGATE: THOMAS JEFFERSON, JAMES MADISON, AND THE ORIGINS OF THE NATIONAL GAZETTE......Page 81
EMBODYING THE OPPOSITION: THE NATIONAL GAZETTE IN ACTION......Page 87
A PATH NOT TAKEN: THE FALL OF THE NATIONAL GAZETTE AND THE FAILURE OF CENTRALIZED NEWSPAPER POLITICS......Page 94
4 Benjamin Franklin Bache and the Price of Partisanship......Page 100
CELEBRITY GRANDSON AND YOUNG SOCIALITE......Page 101
TURNING PARTISAN......Page 104
DOWNWARD MOBILITY, RADICAL POLITICS, AND THE BIRTH OF THE AURORA......Page 109
"SURGO UT PROSIM": BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BACHE AS PROFESSIONAL POLITICIAN......Page 115
POST MORTEM: "MOTHER BACHE" IN MOURNING AND IN PUBLIC......Page 123
5 The Background and Failure of the Sedition Act......Page 126
SLOUCHING TOWARDS PARTISANSHIP: THE REPUBLICAN PRESS BEFORE THE SEDITION ACT......Page 127
PRECOCIOUS PARTISANS: MATTHEW LYON AND JOHN ISRAEL......Page 130
FASHIONING THE WEAPON: THE THINKING BEHIND THE SEDITION ACT......Page 139
WHY DID THE SEDITION ACT FAIL? ANSWERS TO AN UNASKED QUESTION......Page 145
CHARLES HOLT AND THE BEE: A CASE STUDY FROM THE LAND OF STEADY HABITS......Page 153
ESCAPE FROM CONNECTICUT (TO POLITICAL PROFESSIONALISM ON THE HUDSON)......Page 164
FEDERALIST REPRESSION, POPULAR RIGHTS-CONSCIOUSNESS, AND THE RADICALIZATION OF YOUNG PRINTERS......Page 168
7 The Expansion of the Republican Newspaper Network, 1798 1800......Page 174
THE LIMITS OF ELITE SPONSORSHIP......Page 175
PRINTERS OF THE REPUBLIC: THE NEW PARTISAN PRESS OF THE LATE 1790S......Page 182
FEDERALIST REPRESSION AND THE FORGING OF THE REPUBLICAN NETWORK......Page 190
THE MAKING OF A TRANSOCEANIC RADICAL......Page 197
EXILE ON MARKET STREET: DUANE AND THE AURORA......Page 202
THE EDITOR AS LEADER AND LIGHTNING ROD......Page 207
WILLIAM DUANE'S AMERICAN DREAM......Page 212
9 The New Conventional Wisdom......Page 217
THE LESSONS OF 1800......Page 221
INVADING THE FEDERALIST HOMELAND......Page 224
TRAMP POLITICIANS: THE EMERGENCE OF POLITICAL EDITING AS AN OCCUPATION......Page 237
RENOVATING THE FEDERALIST PRESS......Page 250
TALENTS, VIRTUE, AND WEALTH: REAL AND IMAGINED FEDERALIST ADVANTAGES IN THE JOURNALISTIC ARMS RACE......Page 258
ALEXANDER CONTEE HANSON VERSUS THE "RULES OF ARITHMETICK"......Page 262
THE LIMITS OF FEDERALIST NEWSPAPER POLITICS......Page 269
11 Improving on the Sedition Act......Page 279
THE GENTRIFICATION OF THE SOUTHERN PARTISAN PRESS......Page 280
EDITORS AND OTHER POLITICIANS: EMERGING TENSIONS AND DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES......Page 285
THE VIEW FROM THE PRINTING OFFICE......Page 288
THE FEDERALISTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES: THE EVEN DARKER SIDE......Page 295
12 The "Tyranny of Printers" in Jeffersonian Philadelphia......Page 306
WILLIAM DUANE AND THE MORNING AFTER......Page 307
ORIGINS OF THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM......Page 312
EDITORS, LAWYERS, AND THE PENNSYLVANIA LEGAL REFORM MOVEMENT......Page 320
A GENTEEL REBELLION AGAINST "THE TYRANNY OF PRINTERS"......Page 326
THE DECLINE OF DUANE, BUT NOT THE EDITORS......Page 333
THE WAGES OF MOBILITY: THE RISE AND FALL OF JAMES J. WILSON......Page 341
SENATOR ROBERTS AND THE EDITORS: MEDIATING AMERICAN POLITICS THROUGH INFORMATION AND INFLUENCE......Page 350
MERINO RAMS AND MUTTON SOUP: TO CONGRESS AND BACK WITH THOMAS J. ROGERS......Page 362
14 Newspaper Editors and the Reconstruction of Party Politics......Page 369
"AN ARMY OF PRINTERS": THE WAR OF 1812 ERA AND THE ORIGINS OF JACKSONIAN NEWSPAPER POLITICS......Page 371
NEWSPAPER EDITORS AND THE WAR ON GOOD FEELINGS......Page 377
JOHN MILTON NILES AND THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF CONNECTICUT......Page 397
ANDREW JACKSON AND THE COMING OF THE EDITORIAL "MILLENNIUM"......Page 410
CODA: COMMON MEN IN HIGH OFFICE......Page 418
NOTE ON SOURCES......Page 422
APPENDIX 2 The Sedition Act and the Expansion of the Republican Press......Page 428
ABBREVIATIONS......Page 432
1. THE NEWSPAPER-BASED POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE ANTEBELLUM UNITED STATES......Page 433
2. THE PRINTING TRADE IN EARLY AMERICAN POLITICS......Page 439
3. THE TWO NATIONAL GAZETTES AND THE BEGINNINGS OF NEWSPAPER POLITICS......Page 442
4. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BACHE AND THE PRICE OF PARTISANSHIP......Page 447
5. THE BACKGROUND AND FAILURE OF THE SEDITION ACT......Page 451
6. CHARLES HOLT'S GENERATION: FROM COMMERCIAL PRINTERS TO POLITICAL PROFESSIONALS......Page 454
7. THE EXPANSION OF THE REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER NETWORK, 1798 1800......Page 456
8. A PRESENCE IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE: WILLIAM DUANE AND THE TRIUMPH OF NEWSPAPER POLITICS......Page 459
9. THE NEW CONVENTIONAL WISDOM: CONSOLIDATING AND EXPANDING A NEWSPAPER-BASED POLITICAL SYSTEM......Page 461
10. THE FEDERALISTS STRIKE BACK......Page 465
11. IMPROVING ON THE SEDITION ACT: PRESS FREEDOM AND POLITICAL CULTURE AFTER 1800......Page 468
12. THE "TYRANNY OF PRINTERS" IN JEFFERSONIAN PHILADELPHIA......Page 471
13. ORDINARY EDITORS AND EVERYDAY POLITICS: HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED......Page 476
14. NEWSPAPER EDITORS AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF PARTY POLITICS......Page 479
PRIMARY SOURCES......Page 488
SECONDARY SOURCES......Page 501
INDEX......Page 520