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

by Jeffrey L. Pasley

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.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, Journalism

544 pages, Paperback

First published June 17, 2001

About the author

Jeffrey L. Pasley is professor of history at the University of Missouri.

Reviews

[Alex Whalen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book that serves as the foundation of the portion of my dissertation focused on the development of the press and of political parties in early America. By demonstrating that it was newspapers the produced parties, and not vice verse, Pasley goes a long way towards confirming one of Alexis de Tocqueviile's most fundamental insights into American politics: "newspapers make associations, and associations make newspapers." Not a light read, but if you want to go deep into the history of American Political Development, its hard to do better than this.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tyranny of Printers by Jeffrey Pasley follows the growth of printing in the US between the founding of the republic and the Jackson administration. Paslay creates a compelling and naturally flowing book by blending his analysis of demographic and political trends with engaging mini-biographies of different printers. These mini biographies work well to create a blend of academic with more general history. Pasley uses this style to make a compelling argument that newspapers produced political parties, not the other way around. Pasley argues that printers were politicians who held major stakes in the issues of the day. Printers provided an organizational start to early political parties.
Printers were able to provide ideological and organizational tools that were needed to help parties navigate the chaotic political climate, largely because printers were the only truly professional politicians of the time. In the early Republic, parties lacked permanent organization. Outside of campaign season, parties were very ineffective and contributed little to the political climate. The rest of the year, newspaper editors were in charge of maintaining political narratives. Newspaper offices often double as local post offices and reading rooms, making them the perfect spot for party meetings. This also places editors of the paper in key positions in the community, able to gauge public opinion by the volume of papers that passed though their offices.
By reprinting accounts of speeches, marches, rallies, and toasts, newspapers were able to spread their party’s message more effectively and to more people than could have ever seen these events in person. Spreading messages like this across the nation allowed for party ideologies to become national party identities. Jefferson’s party was the first to recognize and use newspapers to create this national identity with the Democratic Republicans. The Republicans were able to use the press as a weapon because of their willingness to let artisan printers into politics. The Federalist newspapers tended to be operated by aristocrats who often would copy articles from other papers without doing the manual labor of setting type and printing. Democratic Republican editors tended to be printers themselves, allowing them much more control of the message. Party editors of the Democratic Republicans tended to form an artisan class that was not compatible with the aristocratic Federalists. This insight provides Pasley with a fascinating look into how political parties and thought were formed in the early Republic.
Perhaps the most fascinating part of Pasley’s book is his understanding of the relationship between journalists and politicians. Pasley makes a compelling argument that printers of the era had a great deal of influence over politics and that ordinary voters may have been better informed than voters today. The Tyranny of Printers does a fantastic job of rethinking the role of newspapers in the early Republic and is able to present this academic argument in a way that is digestible to the public.