Publick Occurrences was the first newspaper published in America. It made its debut in Boston on September 25, 1690. It had a short run. The governor was apparently offended by an article that accused some members of the French royal family of engaging in immoral behavior, and shut the paper down. It would be another 100 years before the freedom of the press was guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Despite the intensity of contemporary debate about media bias, newspapers have always been intertwined with politics. Sometimes the issues were personal, sometimes they were partisan, and sometimes both. Take the example of Thomas Jefferson, our third president.
James Callender, a former friend and political ally of the president, took a job as editor of a Richmond, Virginia newspaper. Feeling slighted because Jefferson failed to give him a government job, Callender launched a series of highly embarrassing articles in the newspaper about Jefferson’s alleged involvement with one of his female slaves.
Jefferson responded by purchasing the National Intelligencer and from that platform fired off a blistering counterattack. Both men were damaged in the exchange. (Most contemporary historians agree that Callender’s accusations were largely accurate.)
Thomas Jefferson wasn’t the only president to get entangled in newspaper politics. Abraham Lincoln bought a Springfield, Illinois-based, German language paper before the 1860 presidential election. He used the paper as a conduit into the German community which proved to be his strongest supporters.
This wasn’t Lincoln’s only foray into newspaper politics. Nearly twenty years before the presidential election, Lincoln wrote a series of articles under the pen name Cato, a Roman general. The articles criticized Illinois state auditor James Shields. Shields found out that Lincoln was the author of the articles and challenged him to a duel.
Dueling was a common practice of the day. It had strict protocols. It gave the challenged the right to choose the weapon, usually pistols. Lincoln was no marksman. Knowing that his long and very strong arms would shift the advantage to him, Lincoln chose broad swords as his weapons of choice. To demonstrate his prowess, Lincoln easily sliced through a thick tree branch. Shields got the message and quietly withdrew his challenge. Shields would later serve under Commander-in-Chief Abraham Lincoln as a Union general during the Civil War.
Nineteenth and early 20th-century newspapers made no pretenses about fairness or objectivity. They clearly and proudly stated their party affiliations. Locally, Clermonters knew exactly what to expect when they picked up a paper. The Clermont Sun supported the Democratic party and The Clermont Courier championed the Whigs and later the Republicans.
The Clermont Sun was first published in Bethel in 1828. (The paper’s name changed to the Ohio Sun and Advertiser, then to the Ohio Sun and eventually back to The Clermont Sun.) The paper’s subscription was $2.00 per year if paid early. It accepted local produce such as wheat, pork, and whiskey, traded at market rates, in lieu of cash. Prominent businessmen from around the county, including Samuel Perin of Perin’s Mills, Matias Kugler of Milford, and Jesse Grant, U.S. Grant’s father, of Georgetown, were chosen as sales agents. The Sun proclaimed its Jacksonian sentiments when it adopted this motto: “Unawed by the influence of the rich, the great or noble, the people must be heard, and their rights protected.”
The Clermont Courier opened its doors in Batavia on March 19, 1836, as the voice of the new Whig Party. The Whigs rose in opposition to Andrew Jackson whom they denounced as a despot. The Courier faithfully supported the Whig ticket until 1854 when the party dissolved into the Republican Party. The paper transferred its allegiance to the newcomers.
The 1860 presidential election was the most consequential election in American history. The very life of The Republic was in question. With the stakes so high, political niceties were quickly abandoned. The “newspaper wars” broke down into a bare-knuckled brawl.
The Sun sent over a salvo of charges accusing Lincoln and the Republicans of being “Negro lovers” “Negro equalitists” and “miscregenationists,” or supporters of racial intermixing. The Courier immediately responded by pointing out that Richmond M. Johnson, a Democrat who served as vice-president under Martin Van Buren, fathered two racially mixed daughters.
Stephen A. Douglas was the Democrats’ candidate. He was known to have a fondness for whiskey. When he left the campaign for a couple of days, the rumors flew. Democrats tried to explain away the scandal by saying that Douglas was sick. The Courier cleverly “agreed”: “Who then is the Little Giant (Douglas) Inn-Disposed” when he has been ALEing for a few days.”
The papers battled on, slamming the candidates and each other with gusto. Clermonters went to the polls on November 6, 1860, and, true to form, chose Democrat Stephen Douglas as their president, defeating Republican Abraham Lincoln by 241 votes.
The Sun and The Courier continued their rivalry until 1989 when the The Courier shut its doors.