The Commonwealth (Pittsburgh)

''The Commonwealth'' was a weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1805 to 1818, before continuing as ''The Statesman'' until 1836. It was the city's third newspaper, and one of several in the ancestral lineage of the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''.

Origin

''The Commonwealth'' was born out of dissension in the ranks of the Democratic-Republican Party in Pennsylvania. The conflict pitted a moderate "Constitutionalist" faction (called " Quids" by opponents), supporting Governor Thomas McKean, against the "Friends of the People," who favored radical legal and judicial reform and sought to defeat the governor's re-election. Ephraim Pentland, a 20-year-old journalist who had been employed at the ''Aurora'' in Philadelphia, established the ''Commonwealth'' to give voice in Pittsburgh to the radical cause in opposition to the Quid-oriented '' Tree of Liberty'' and the Federalist-leaning ''Gazette''. The paper first appeared on 24 July 1805 as a four-column folio sold at $3 per year. It adopted the Pennsylvania state motto — "Virtue, Liberty and Independence" — as its own.

Stewart-Bates duel

Pentland's columns teemed with personal abuse, which grew especially bitter following McKean's victory over Simon Snyder in the 1805 gubernatorial election. An editorial on Christmas Day bashed Tarleton Bates and Henry Baldwin, associates of the ''Tree of Libertys nominal publisher Walter Forward, as "despicable sycophants" and "two of the most abandoned political miscreants that ever disgraced the state." Bates struck back at his detractor on the street, with two or three lashes of a cowhide whip. Pentland some time later issued a challenge to a duel, which Bates declined. In publishing his account of the affair in the ''Tree of Liberty'', Bates gave offense to Thomas Stewart, a merchant who had carried Pentland's challenge to Bates. Stewart, after failing to receive an apology, challenged Bates, who fatefully accepted. In the duel Bates was killed on the second exchange of fire.

Pentland departure, successors

In 1810 Pentland left journalism to focus on his law practice and political career. The ''Commonwealth'' passed under the direction of Benjamin Brown, previously associated with the Washington, Pennsylvania ''Reporter''. Brown, whose political views were similar to Pentland's, remained with the paper until 1814.

Following Brown's departure, a succession of others carried on the ''Commonwealth'' until 1818. Members of one publishing group, upon taking charge, complained that "They have found the establishment which has fallen into their hands sickening from the neglect of its former friends, and drooping from the desertion of its old patrons."

''The Statesman''

In 1818, Pentland re-established control of the paper with printer Silas Engles and renamed it ''The Statesman''. Pentland had by this time become less radical in his politics.

Pentland's father-in-law, Senator Abner Lacock, who had regularly contributed columns to the ''Commonwealth'', used the ''Statesman'' as a political weapon and was sometimes suspected of writing for the paper under the alias "Hannibal."

The ''Statesman'' passed through the hands of John W. Young, and was owned in 1824 by John C. and P. C. M. Andrews. Looking toward that year's presidential election, the latter editors came out for caucus candidate William H. Crawford and against the popular Andrew Jackson. Opposition to Jackson was to be an enduring characteristic of the journal.

An 1826 directory spoke of the ''Statesman'' as "in a more flourishing condition than it has been for many years, owing to the late improvement of its appearance and the addition to the editorial department." In the same year the paper announced a semiweekly edition with the title ''Statesman and Pittsburgh Public Advertiser'', which is not known to have lasted long.

Butler era

In July 1827, John B. Butler, formerly of the Ravenna, Ohio ''Western Courier'', bought the ''Statesman'' and assumed its management. Butler continued the paper's anti-Jackson stance, and during the presidential campaign of 1828, supposedly put out Coffin Handbills attacking Jackson.

Under Butler's direction, the ''Statesman'' became supportive of the nascent Whig Party.

An active Freemason, Butler feuded editorially with the ''Times'' and the ''Gazette'', which in the 1830s were the local Anti-Masonic organs.

Consolidation

In 1836 the ''Statesman'' was sold to and consolidated with another Whig journal, the ''Advocate''. Published daily, the ''Advocate'' also issued a weekly edition, which, as the successor of the weekly ''Statesman'', was renamed the ''Weekly Advocate and Statesman''. The ''Advocate'' was eventually absorbed by the ''Gazette'', a predecessor of the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Commonwealth (Pittsburgh), The
Defunct newspapers published in Pittsburgh
Defunct weekly newspapers
Publications established in 1805
Publications disestablished in 1836
1805 establishments in Pennsylvania
1836 disestablishments in Pennsylvania