American Union (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.])
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
195 issues from 1855 to 1859, published in Morgantown, West Virginia, digitised for Chronicling America.
The American or “Know-Nothing” Party formed from groups of secret organizations seeking national political notice and respectability. This fervently nativist movement opposed immigration and Catholicism and promoted Protestantism and restrictions on liquor sales, while temporarily circumventing the most significant issue of the day–contending that slavery was a local rather than federal issue. In this environment of political polarization, Simeon Siegfried Jr. launched the American Union in Morgantown, Virginia (later West Virginia), on June 30, 1855. A Baptist minister, Siegfried had been assistant editor of his father’s newspaper the Monongalia Mirror until its closure only a week earlier.
The American Union was published weekly with four pages totaling 28 columns. At the top of page two, Siegfried incorporated an image of an eagle with wings outstretched over a bust of George Washington and the motto “Americans must rule America.” He published editorials, letters, and political humor in support of the American Party, while reporting on the success of the party nationally. In the months leading up to the 1856 presidential election, Siegfried allocated increased space to national and political news.
In addition to trumpeting the American Party platform, the Union directly challenged Morgantown’s Democratic periodicals, the Morgantown Telegraph and the Virginia Campaign Star, later renamed the Virginia Star, then the Virginia Weekly Star. The rivalry between these…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Morgantown, West Virginia, 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