Biography:

The National Advocate was a daily, except Sunday, newspaper printed in New York City from 1812-1829. It later merged with The New-York Statesman and they became The New-York Morning Herald. The National Advocate was one of the smallest of a first generation of high-volume daily newspapers in New York.   The paper’s founder and editor was Mordecai M. Noah (1785-1851).  A successful lawyer, journalist, playwright, diplomat, utopian, and political commentator, Mordecai hailed from a prominent Jewish merchant family from Philadelphia.  He and his son Robert P. Noah traced their family lineage to the revolution, claiming that General Washington was present at his parents’ wedding in Philadelphia.  He considered himself an ardent patriot and Democrat, but he was also an eccentric.  Noah attempted to created a Jewish “refuge” called “Ararat” on the Grand Island located on the Niagara River in 1825, but received little support and the idea was ultimately abandoned.  Besides The National Advocate, Noah also founded The New York Enquirer (later merged into the New York Courier and Enquirer), The Evening Star, and The Sunday Times newspapers.