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

Abstract

Young Turks and the Politics of Early American Newspapers Jeffrey Pasley's "The Tyranny of Printers" tells a new story about the partisanship of the 1790s and the rise of political parties. Anchoring his political history in the history of journalism, Pasley locates newspapers at the heart of early American politics, specifically with the emergence of the Republicans as an opposition voice during John Adams's administration. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison initially used the press as a means of disseminating the Republicans' political positions. They were followed by a group of men-whom Pasley portrays as young turks--who quickly took up the cause and established a thriving Re-