Gazette of the United States

Gazette of the United States

175px The September 9, 1789 issue of the Gazette of the United States
Type	Biweekly newspaper
Owner(s)	John Fenno
Editor	John Fenno, Joseph Dennie
Founded	April 15, 1789 (1789-04-15)
Headquarters	New York City, Philadelphia
OCLC number	9529277

The Gazette of the United States (1789-1793) was an early American partisan newspaper first issued on April 15, 1789, as a biweekly publication friendly to the administration of George Washington, and to the policies and members of the emerging Federalist Party. The Gazette was originally published in New York City by editor John Fenno, but followed the United States Government in 1790 to its new temporary seat and capital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There the editorship was taken over by Joseph Dennie until he founded Port Folio.

Throughout its history, The Gazette would function as a quasi-official Federalist publication. Contributors would write, often pseudonymously or anonymously, in support of various Federalist positions, politicians, or policies. Like many other publications of the day, the paper also hosted pieces containing personal attacks (in this case, largely on Federalist opponents). Among the paper's more famous and prolific pseudonymous contributors was Alexander Hamilton, who produced articles under many different noms de plume. John Adams, then Vice-President of the United States, published his famous Discourses on Davila, his last great text of political theory, in periodic installments of the Gazette between April 1790 and April 1791, when the series was suddenly interrupted.

The Gazette played a notable role in the development of political parties and early partisanship. It also played a leading role in inspiring the creation of its rival paper, the National Gazette, which was founded at the urging of anti-Federalist leaders Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as a vehicle for their party's own political self-promotion and polemics.

Name changes

Originally called the Gazette of the United States the newspaper's title was changed to the Gazette of the United States, and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser from June 9, 1797, to June 24, 1800. From June 28, 1800, "&" replaced "and" for the name the Gazette of the

References

• Burns, Eric. Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism. Public Affairs, (2006) (ISBN 1586484281).
• Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. Penguin Books, (2004) (ISBN 1594200092).

Further reading

• Jeffrey L. Pasley. The Two National "Gazettes": Newspapers and the Embodiment of American Political Parties. Early American Literature, Vol. 35, No. 1 (2000), pp. 51–86