Weekly American (Washington, D.C.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
23 issues from 1858, published in Washington, District Of Columbia, digitised for Chronicling America.
The American was published in Washington, DC by C. W. Fenton as the American party’s organ from July 31, 1857 until December 31, 1857. The American Party was also known as the Nativists, the American Republican Party, the Native American movement, or the Know-Nothings. The American followed the Daily American Organ and Weekly American Organ newspapers, edited by Vespasian Ellis and Josiah Melvin, respectively, as the party’s official publication. Fenton began publishing the American a few months after the Weekly American Organ ceased publication in May 1857. When the American published its first issue, the American Party was already falling out of favor and there had supposedly been an attack on party members when a riot at the voting polls killed many people. The American Party took this incident as a threat to them, even though there was no substantial proof that the victims were affiliated with that party, according to the article “The Riot in Washington” in the June 4, 1857 issue of the Alexandria Gazette. With this event preceding it, the paper took a defensive tone stating that it would be “a paper whose columns will refute the slanders of its enemies, and defend the principles which animate them to perpetual vigilance, and which will certainly lead them to assured and complete triumph,” as noted in the article “Ourself” in the July 31, 1857 issue of the American.
The American Party’s strong anti-immigrant position was demonstrated by their negative portrayal of all…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Washington, District Of Columbia, United States
- Language
- English
- Collection
- Chronicling America
- Licence or status
- None stated by the archive
- Rights
- The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety.
- Credit
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities
- Who can read it
- Teens profiles and older (placed by Invisible Network from what the archive says; archives give no ratings)
- Archive
- Library of Congress