The Newspapers

El Semanario de Agricultura, Industria y Comercio
1802–1807 

The New-England Palladium
1803–1840

The New-England Palladium, formerly known as the Massachusetts Mercury, was a Federalist newspaper printed on Tuesdays and Fridays in Boston, Massachusetts between 1803 and 1840. The state of Massachusetts employed Federalists Alexander Young and Thomas Minns to print the Palladium until their deaths in the 1830s. The Palladium published foreign intelligence, political columns, local news, legal proceedings, advertisements, and shipping news. It provided a general advertiser for shipping news and international trade, but it was also openly partisan in its criticisms of the Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe administrations. 

The Global Americas Project uses the Palladium because Young and Minns remained the sole editors for decades. This eliminates the confounding variables from changes in editors and sources of information. Moreover, its shipping news sections are extensive and provide detailed updates on the Boston Harbor. The Palladium helps to explain shipping trends in the Americas because it provides information regarding trade policy, diplomatic correspondence, and comments on tensions with countries such as Spain and Haiti. The third and fourth pages of each issue were typically a combination of advertisements and shipping news. Each issue contains a “Marine List” section with vessel names, vessel type (i.e. brig, frigate, schooner), the captain’s name, port of origin/last port, and days of travel between ports. Some feature minimal cargo descriptions. While the editors provide the most detail for Boston Harbor, they list information for other ports as well. The cities vary by issue but include Philadelphia, New Orleans, Kingston, and Havana. Advertisements also provide shipping information. Some grocery ads report the ship the goods arrived on, the captain's name, or the goods’ port of origin. Additionally, vessels advertised cargo remaining from their last voyage to sell before their next departure. When only the ship or captain's name is listed, we compare it to the "Marine List" section and combine the information. Altogether, there is a rich cache of shipping information about the port of Boston in the New-England Palladium and its predecessor, the Massachusetts Mercury.

The Palladium ran alongside Jefferson's Embargo of 1807, the Spanish American Wars of Independence, negotiations of the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, and Boston’s establishment of trade partnerships with newly-independent Latin American countries. The Palladium reported on Latin American politics and trade regularly under headings such as “Correspondence relative to South America” or “of Spanish America.” During the Wars of Independence, one question relevant to Young and Minns was if Spain would consider U.S. trade with Latin America as a violation of neutrality. Some believed that Spain would declare war if the U.S. recognized Latin America as independent through trade, but others believed that Spain was too weak. Young and Minns occasionally reprinted articles from newspapers abroad as well. They published European newspapers’ reports on Latin American independence to identify popular sentiments in Europe as either Patriot or Royalist. Additionally, they reprinted the announcement of the first English press in South America, the Southern Star of Montevideo, in 1807. The Southern Star highlighted tensions between colonial powers because it was established to urge Latin Americans to resist the Spanish and join the English empire instead. Amidst many developments in U.S.-Latin American relations, the Palladium’s time period places it in Andrew’s and Beckett’s personal research.

In the United States, the Federalist Palladium faced consequences for its rabid partisanship. It was the official newspaper of Massachusetts and the printers were employed by the state. In 1805, the Massachusetts House of Representatives tried Young and Minns and nearly dismissed them due to an article criticizing Thomas Jefferson. It was entitled “The Monarchy of Federalism.” The article jeered that if John Adams had been guilty of the same misconduct as Thomas Jefferson, the public would have seen Adams as “a good republican.” The article criticized Jefferson on several fronts, including religious toleration in Notes on the State of Virginia, having interracial sex, weakening the navy and leaving soldiers unprotected in the Barbary Wars, eliminating taxes on luxury goods while allowing taxes on general goods, and spending fifteen million dollars on Louisiana (“an unprofitable wilderness”). The Massachusetts House was primarily Republican and it would not tolerate the criticisms of Jefferson. The Representatives brought Young and Minns to trial, and they debated the accuracy of the criticisms. They deferred the question of the printers’ employment to a committee and the committee determined that the state would continue to employ Young and Minns. For as much partisan debate they published, Young and Minns published an equal amount of impartial shipping news, local advertisements, and government correspondence. As a result, the Palladium allows us insight into the political context of international trade. It allows us to not only find shipping data but also to understand the intersection between international and domestic affairs in the nineteenth-century United States.

El Telégrafo Mercantil, Rural, Político, Económico e Historiográfico del Río de la Plata
1801–1802

The Charleston Courier
1803–1852

The Charleston Courier was a daily Federalist newspaper established in 1803 by Aaron S. Willington in Charleston, South Carolina. Willington entered partnerships with publishers Frederick Dalcho, Stephen Carpenter, Peter Marchant, and Edmund Morford until becoming the Courier’s sole publisher in 1813. He retained sole ownership of the Courier until the paper’s conclusion in 1852. In its first issue on January 10th, 1803, Willington announced that the Courier would not participate in party conflict or smear campaigns. He introduced the contents as “essays… on moral, scientific, and literary subjects; choice pieces of poetry; occasional strictures on dramatical productions… a review of the best new publications… and, in a word, all such public and domestic intelligence as news-papers usually communicate.” The public and domestic intelligence are most pertinent to the Global Americas Project. Shipping news in the Courier included marine intelligence, captains seeking cargo or passengers for their ships, and notices of ships’ cargo with their destinations. The Courier emphasized advertisements but was equally likely to publish on politics. Its shipping news and subtle political involvement make it a valuable resource to understanding trade relations in the early republic. 

The Global Americas Project uses the Charleston Courier due to its extensive shipping notices. Although the Charleston Courier underwent a variety of partnerships, Aaron Willington was the paper’s primary editor for decades, and he provided a stable representation of Charleston’s shipping news. Advertisements and notices typically formed the bulk of the first page; they were evenly distributed throughout the other pages. The newspaper’s general format changed throughout the years but its abundance of shipping news remained consistent. In the Courier’s early years, shipping advertisements were displayed independently on the page with the destination as its headline. These notices contained the name of the captain, a description of the ship, and if the captain was seeking cargo or passengers. Arrivals and departures from Charleston were under the headline “Marine List.” Marine lists also highlighted unsuccessful transports. They described circumstances such as naval battles, impressment, and stolen goods that interfered with trade. Importantly for Global Americas, they indicated the countries involved and the thieves’ destinations.

The newspaper ran concurrently with several important events in Rio de la Plata’s history. For example, in 1810 alone, prominent issues the Courier reported included the May Revolution, the Argentine War of Independence, the defeat of Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, and the dissolution of the Primera Junta. The Courier reprinted from sources across the world. In domestic affairs, the Courier was not as impartial as Willington advertised. It emphasized foreign intelligence, literary reviews , and the outcomes of horse races, but it also published opinionated correspondents. As a Federalist, Willington accepted article submissions criticizing Thomas Jefferson’s trade policies such as the Embargo Act of 1807 and the Barbary Wars. Willington may have faced severe consequences for the Courier’s partisanship. The City Gazette, another Federalist newspaper in Charleston, voiced concern for Willington’s safety. Willington apparently fled town because a group of foreign Republicans threatened to attack his office and force him to wear a national cockade in the fashion of the French Revolution. Regardless of the truth of the story, the Courier was noticeably a Federalist newspaper. Due to its extensive shipping news and diverse sources on politics, the Courier makes a helpful source for the Global Americas Project.

Poulson's American Daily Advertiser
1800–1839

Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser was a Federalist newspaper issued daily (excepting Sundays) in Philadelphia between 1800 and 1839. Its original editor, Zachariah Poulson, inherited Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser from D.C.C. Claypoole, changed its name to Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, and promised to uphold Claypoole’s original intention of running a nonpartisan advertiser. Alongside advertisements for individuals and businesses within Philadelphia, Poulson’s Daily Advertiser published shipping news from ports across the country. 

The Global Americas Project uses this newspaper because Poulson remained its sole editor for twenty years and Poulson published shipping news and foreign intelligence daily. The consistency of a single editor prevents different sources of intelligence and different subscriber networks from confounding the data. Moreover, Poulson prioritized advertisements over political disputes and commentary. This priority gives the Global Americas Project more advertisements to work with. Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser printed ads from businesses and private merchants whose goods had recently arrived or would arrive within the week. Shipping news allowed sellers to inform potential buyers of the quality of the goods, when the goods would be for sale, and where they came from. Their headlines were either the port in which the ship arrived, the name of the seller, the type or source of goods (e.g. “dry goods” or “Calcutta goods”), the specific merchandise (e.g. “Tobacco now landed” or “Rum”), or the name of the ship. Additionally, captains submitted advertisements about the day’s exports and imports, and they requested that readers apply to transport freight or travel on their ships. 

In addition to shipping news, domestic politics and foreign intelligence were often featured on the second and third pages. Poulson, writing during the Jefferson and Madison administrations, often reprinted criticisms of Republican trade policies from other Federalist newspapers. The foreign intelligence section reflected its international context of the Spanish-American Wars for Independence beginning in 1808, the Embargo Act of 1807 and its subsequent replacement in 1809 with the Non-Intercourse Act, the decline of the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata, the War of 1812, and the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819.

Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser claimed to be nonpartisan and pushed its Federalist agenda subtly. In its first issue on October 1st, 1800, a subscriber lamented how many advertisers were full of party slander and hoped that Poulson’s would be different. At the same time, the subscriber expected Poulson not to be completely apolitical because an apolitical newspaper would “become a sort of milk-and-water thing, in which no person of understanding is, or can be, interested.” The subscriber hoped for “a plain, decent, downright Federal[ist] Gazette,” and Poulson delivered. Federalist editors such as Poulson were more likely than Jeffersonians to believe that partisanship was the source of the nation’s problems; they tended to prioritize advertisements over political pieces. Poulson attempted to abstain from the competitive politics in Philadelphia, where Republicans dominated by a small margin. Poulson’s competition was notoriously partisan. William Duane’s Aurora General Advertiser, a radical Jeffersonian paper, was a particularly strong opponent. The Aurora ran on the same daily schedule as Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser and ridiculed Poulson for his attempt at impartiality. Despite the competition, Poulson was successful printing advertisements and avoiding political quarrels until the American Daily Advertiser’s conclusion in 1820. Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser contains a wealth of information regarding commerce in the port of Philadelphia and how the United States interacted with other nations, including those in Latin America, to expand commerce as it globalized.

Gazette Politique et Commerciale d'Haïti
1804–1806