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The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the dominant newspaper first of the American Whig Party, then of the Republican Party. The paper achieved a circulation of approximately 200,000 in the 1850s, making it the largest daily paper in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
at the time. The ''Tribune''s editorials were widely read, shared, and copied in other city newspapers, helping to shape national opinion. It was one of the first papers in the north to send reporters, correspondents, and illustrators to cover the campaigns of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
. It continued as an independent daily newspaper until 1924, when it merged with the '' New York Herald''. The resulting '' New York Herald Tribune'' remained in publication until 1966. Among those who served on the paper's editorial board were Bayard Taylor,
George Ripley George Ripley may refer to: * George Ripley (alchemist) (died 1490), English author and alchemist *George Ripley (transcendentalist) George Ripley (October 3, 1802 – July 4, 1880) was an American social reformer, Unitarian minister, and journ ...
, and Isidor Lewi.
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
's poem "
Annabel Lee "Annabel Lee" is the last complete poem composed by American author Edgar Allan Poe. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman.Meyers, Jeffrey. ''Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy''. New York: Cooper Sq ...
" was first published in the newspaper as part of his October 9, 1849, obituary, "Death of Edgar A. Poe", by Rufus Griswold. In addition, Poe's "The Bells" was published in the October 17, 1849, issue as "Poe's Last Poem".


History

The ''Tribune'' was created by Horace Greeley in 1841 with the goal of providing a straightforward, trustworthy media source. Greeley had previously published a weekly newspaper, ''The New Yorker'' (unrelated to the later modern magazine of the same name), in 1833 and was also publisher of the Whig Party's political organ, '' Log Cabin''. In 1841, he merged operations of these two publications into a new newspaper that he named the ''New-York Tribune''. Greeley sponsored a host of reforms, including
pacifism Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
and
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
and especially the ideal of the hardworking free laborer. Greeley demanded reforms to make all citizens free and equal. He envisioned virtuous citizens who would eradicate corruption. He talked endlessly about progress, improvement, and freedom, while calling for harmony between labor and capital. Greeley's editorials promoted social democratic reforms and were widely reprinted. They influenced the free-labor ideology of the Whigs and the radical wing of the Republican Party, especially in promoting the free-labor ideology. Before 1848 he sponsored an American version of Fourierist socialist reform, but backed away after the failed
revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
in Europe. To promote multiple reforms, Greeley hired a roster of writers who later became famous in their own right, including Margaret Fuller, Charles Anderson Dana, George William Curtis, William Henry Fry, Bayard Taylor,
George Ripley George Ripley may refer to: * George Ripley (alchemist) (died 1490), English author and alchemist *George Ripley (transcendentalist) George Ripley (October 3, 1802 – July 4, 1880) was an American social reformer, Unitarian minister, and journ ...
, Julius Chambers, and Henry Jarvis Raymond, who later co-founded ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. In 1852-62, the paper retained
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
as its London-based European correspondent.
Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' isstudies", noting that since much of his work was reporting on current economic events, “I was compelled to become conversant with practical detail which, strictly speaking, lie outside the sphere of political economy”. Engels wrote “It doesn’t matter if they are never read again.”. In the same correspondence Marx disparagingly referred to the publication as a “blotting paper vendor”. Nevertheless, Engels still cited this career as a positive achievement of Marx’s during a eulogy given at his funeral.


Political influence

Founded in a time of civil unrest, the paper joined the newly formed Republican Party in 1854, named it after the party of
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
, and emphasized its opposition to slavery. The paper generated a large readership, with a circulation of approximately 200,000 during the 1850s. This made the paper the largest circulation daily in New York City—gaining commensurate influence among voters and political decision-makers in the process. During the Civil War Greeley crusaded against slavery, lambasting Democrats while calling for a mandatory draft of soldiers for the first time in the U.S. This led to an Irish mob attempting to burn down the ''Tribune'' building in lower Manhattan during the Draft Riots. Greeley ran for
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as the nominee of the Liberal Republican Party (and subsequently the Democratic Party) in the 1872 election against incumbent Ulysses S. Grant in his bid for a second term. Greeley was unsuccessful and, soon after the defeat, checked into Dr. George C.S. Choate's Sanitarium, where he died only a few weeks later. ''Tribune'' editor
Whitelaw Reid Whitelaw Reid (October 27, 1837 – December 15, 1912) was an American politician and newspaper editor, as well as the author of ''Ohio in the War'', a popular work of history. After assisting Horace Greeley as editor of the ''New-York Tribu ...
purchased the paper following Greeley's death. In 1886, with Reid's support, the ''Tribune'' became the first publication in the world to be printed on a
linotype machine The Linotype machine ( ) is a "line casting" machine used in printing; manufactured and sold by the former Mergenthaler Linotype Company and related It was a hot metal typesetting system that cast lines of metal type for individual uses. Lin ...
, which was invented by a German immigrant, inventor Ottmar Mergenthaler. This technique allowed it to exceed the standard newspaper size of only eight pages while still speeding up printing time per copy, thereby increasing the overall number of copies that could be printed.


''New York Herald Tribune''

Under Reid's son, Ogden Mills Reid, the paper acquired and merged with the '' New York Herald'' in 1924 to form the '' New York Herald Tribune.'' The ''New York Herald Tribune'' continued to be run by Ogden M. Reid until his death in 1947.


Former Tribune buildings today

* The
New York Tribune Building The New York Tribune Building (also the Nassau-Tribune Building) was a building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, across from City Hall and the Civic Center. It was at the intersection of Nassau and Spruce Streets, at 154 ...
was the first home of
Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pace ...
. Today, the site where the building once stood is now the One Pace Plaza complex of Pace University's New York City campus. Dr. Choate’s residence and private hospital, where Horace Greeley died, today is part of the campus of Pace University in
Pleasantville, New York Pleasantville is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located 30 miles north of Manhattan. The village population was 7,019 at the 2010 census. Pleasantville is home to the secondary campu ...
. * On December 15, 1921, ''The New York Tribune'' bought two plots of ground at 219 and 220 West 40th Street. The headquarters that ''The New York Tribune'' built at that site is now the home of the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.


Archives

Copies of the ''New-York Tribune'' are available on
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at many large libraries and online at the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
.About New-York tribune. (New York [N.Y.]) 1866–1924
" Library of Congress.
Also, indices from selected years in the late nineteenth century are available on the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

website
The original paper articles from the newspaper's
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are kept a
The Center for American History
at the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
.


See also

* History of American newspapers


References


Further reading

* * * * * * Guarneri, Carl J. ''Lincoln's Informer: Charles A. Dana and the Inside Story of the Union War'' (University Press of Kansas, 2019). * Holzer, Harold. ''Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion'' (Simon & Schuster, 2014). * * * Lundberg, James M. ''Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019). * * Seitz, Don C. ''Horace Greeley: Founder of the New York Tribune'' (1926
online edition
* Tuchinsky, Adam. ''Horace Greeley's 'New-York Tribune': Civil War-Era Socialism and the Crisis of Free Labor'' (Cornell University Press, 2009). * Van Deusen, Glyndon G. ''Horace Greeley, Nineteenth-Century Crusader'' (1953), standard biograph
online edition


See also

* The New Era Illustrated Magazine


External links

* *
Library of Congress digitized all issues 1842-1866

Library of Congress digitized all issues 1866-1922
{{Authority control 1841 establishments in New York (state) 1924 disestablishments in New York (state) Abolitionist newspapers published in the United States Defunct newspapers published in New York City Horace Greeley New York (state) in the American Civil War Publications disestablished in 1924 Newspapers established in 1841 Richard Morris Hunt buildings Daily newspapers published in New York City