The ''National Gazette'' was a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

partisan newspaper that was first published on October 31, 1791. It was edited and published semiweekly by poet and printer Philip Freneau until October 23, 1793. The ''National Gazette'' was founded at the urging of Democratic-Republican leaders James Madison and Thomas Jefferson in order to counter the influence of the rival

Federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

newspaper, the ''

Gazette of the United States The ''Gazette of the United States'' was an early American newspaper, first issued semiweekly in New York on April 15, 1789, but moving the next year to Philadelphia when the nation's capital moved there the next year. It was friendly to the F ...

''. Like other papers of the era, the ''National Gazette'' centered on its fervent political content. The ''Gazette's'' political content was often written pseudonymously, and was directed against the

Federalist Party The Federalist Party was a Conservatism in the United States, conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801. De ...

. Many prominent Democratic-Republicans contributed articles, often pseudonymously, including Madison and Jefferson. The ''Gazette'' is unique among early American partisan newspapers for being substantially supported by a major player within a sitting administration (then Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson) while simultaneously attacking that administration's own policies. Jefferson enticed Freneau to come to Philadelphia to edit the ''Gazette'' by hiring him as a translator at the United States Department of State for an annual salary of $250. Federalist writers, including

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

, attacked this as a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

. Hamilton and other Federalists also financially supported their own partisan newspaper, the ''Gazette of the United States'', although their publication did not attack Washington and his policies, but praised them effusively. Freneau's ''Gazette'' spent much of its time criticizing the policies of the

Washington administration The presidency of George Washington began on April 30, 1789, when Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1797. Washington took office after the 1788–1789 presidential election, the na ...

. The paper described Alexander Hamilton's financial policies in 1792 as "numerous evils...pregnant with every mischief" and described

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

's sixty-first birthday celebration as "a forerunner of other monarchical vices." The ''Gazette's'' strident polemics and screeds against the Washington administration led President Washington to despise the ''Gazette'', and to refer to its editor pejoratively as "that Rascal Freneau." The ''National Gazette'' unofficially stopped publishing in October 1793, two years after its establishment, citing "a considerable quantity of new and elegant printing types from Europe" to be obtained, but it is believed that the outbreak of yellow fever in Philadelphia combined with dwindling subscriptions contributed to the paper's demise. Jefferson would later resign as Secretary of State, ending Freneau's main source of income aside from the paper. Another newspaper of the same name was being published in Philadelphia in 1830.

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