The Republican Compiler
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Republican Compiler was a newspaper printed in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania servicing Adams County. The newspaper predated the Republican Party, and its name instead refers to early American Republicanism.


History


Lefever family

The newspaper was founded by Jacob Lefever in 1819, the second oldest newspaper in Gettysburg, behind just ''The Adams Sentinel.'' Lefever operated as the paper's chief executive and publisher until 1839 when he gave the newspaper to his son, Isaac Lefever, to pursue a political career, ultimately serving a single term in the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...
in 1848.


Stevens libel case

In 1831, then Gettysburg lawyer and borough councilman
Thaddeus Stevens Thaddeus Stevens (April 4, 1792August 11, 1868) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, being one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Histo ...
, gave a speech in
Hagerstown, Maryland Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland, United States, and its county seat. The population was 43,527 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Hagerstown ranks as Maryland's List of municipalities in Maryland, sixth-most popu ...
, where he strongly condemned
freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
claiming that the organization was seeking to undermine the United States and enslave the American people. The newspaper, staunchly Democratic, attacked the personal appearance and character of Stevens, in an attempt to undermine the popularity of the local
Anti-Masonic Party The Anti-Masonic Party was the earliest Third party (United States), third party in the United States. Formally a Single-issue politics, single-issue party, it strongly opposed Freemasonry in the United States. It was active from the late 1820s, ...
. Calling Stevens "bald" "stout" "lame" and a "harlot", and that his speech was "the vilest slanders barefaced falsehood and pandemoniac malignity against a large and respectable portion of our citizens that ever fell from the lips of any man." The newspaper also attacked Stevens place of birth for not being Pennsylvania when seeking to impact Pennsylvanian politics. In response, Stevens sued Lefever and the paper for
libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
, to which Lefever argued no defense and had to pay a $50 fine ($1,768.90 in 2023), retract the article, and was sentenced to three months in prison. The severity of the punishment that presiding Judge John Reed gave Lefever troubled Democratic governor
George Wolf George Wolf (August 12, 1777March 11, 1840) was the seventh governor of Pennsylvania from 1829 to 1835. On June 29, 1888, he was recognized as the "father of the public-school system" in Pennsylvania by the erection of a memorial gateway at Ea ...
and his State Attorney Samuel Douglas, who sent his Adams County deputy, Andrew G. Miller to request Reed remit the prison sentence, Reed refused. After the trial, former state senator Zephaniah Herbert accused Reed, and the other presiding Judge, McClean, of
prejudice Prejudice can be an affect (psychology), affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived In-group and out-group, social group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classifi ...
as both were very active in local anti-masonic circles. A petition was also signed by most of Gettysburg's founding families requested they remit Lefever's prison sentence. Seventeen days after his sentencing, Governor Wolf pardoned Lefever. Later in Stevens' career, it was revealed that he bribed the editors of the ''Adams Sentinel'' and the '' Antimasonic Star'' to publish inflammatory rhetoric against ''The Republican Compiler'' which compelled Lefever to print the piece against Stevens.


Stahle family

Isaac, who was never a journalist or politician, sold the paper in 1843 to Edward Stahle to finance his tuition at the University of Pennsylvania's Medical School. Edward gave the newspaper to his son Henry Stahle shortly after in 1845. The newspaper maintained and even increased their ties to the Democratic Party, publishing their statements and declarations, as such, with the founding of the Republican Party in 1854 Henry would cease publication of ''The Republican Compiler'' in 1857, when he rebranded the newspaper as '' The Compiler''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Republican Compiler Newspapers established in 1818 Defunct newspapers published in Pennsylvania 1818 establishments in Pennsylvania 1857 disestablishments in Pennsylvania History of Adams County, Pennsylvania Publications established in 1818 Publications disestablished in 1857