"The tyranny of printers" : newspaper politics in the early American republic / Jeffrey L. Pasley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pasley, Jeffrey L., 1964-

Series:

Jeffersonian America.

Jeffersonian America

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Journalism--United States--History--18th century.

Journalism.

Journalism--United States--History--19th century.

Press and politics--United States--History--18th century.

Press and politics.

Press and politics--United States--History--19th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 517 p. ) ill., maps ;

Place of Publication:

Charlottesville : University Press of Virginia, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Although frequently attacked for their partisanship and undue political influence, the American media of today are objective and relatively ineffectual compared to their counterparts of two hundred years ago. From the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century, newspapers were the republic's central political institutions, working components of the party system rather than commentators on it. The Tyranny of Printers narrates the rise of this newspaper-based politics, in which editors became the chief party spokesmen and newspaper offices often served as local party headquarters. Beginning when Thomas Jefferson enlisted a Philadelphia editor to carry out his battle with Alexander Hamilton for the soul of the new republic (and got caught trying to cover it up), the centrality of newspapers in political life gained momentum after Jefferson's victory in 1800, which was widely credited to a superior network of papers. Jeffrey L. Pasley tells the rich story of this political culture and its culmination in Jacksonian democracy, enlivening his narrative with accounts of the colorful but often tragic careers of individual editors.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 467-498) and index.

ISBN:

9786613585561

9781280490330

1280490330

9780813921891

0813921899