Biography:

Founded in Philadelphia by poet and printer Philip Freneau, the National Gazette began publishing in October 1791. The paper was conceived of by Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican colleagues to combat the Federalist Gazette of the United States. From the start, the paper was purely an organ of the Democratic - Republican Party; Freneau was a college friend of James Madison’s, and the paper was almost totally bankrolled by Jefferson. Additionally, George Washington and his administration, along with Alexander Hamilton, repeatedly accused of Jefferson dictating the paper’s content, although Freneau denied these allegations under oath. Madison himself wrote numerous essays published by the Gazette anonymously. The paper was virulent in attacking Adams and the Federalists, including Washington whenever he sided with Federalists in a debate, repeatedly accusing the party of Toryism, and warning of monarchical tendencies. Freneau went as far as to call Washington’s 61st birthday party “a forerunner of other monarchical vices.”  The National Gazette informally ceased printing in October 1793, during the Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia. A few months later, Jefferson resigned from his position as Washington’s Secretary of State, dissipating Freneau’s funding for the paper.