National Gazette

National Gazette

The November 14, 1791 issue of the National Gazette
Type	Semiweekly newspaper
Owner(s)	Philip Morin Freneau
Editor	Philip Morin Freneau
Founded	1791
Ceased publication	1793
Headquarters	Philadelphia, P

The National Gazette was a Democratic-Republican 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 Republican leaders James Madison and Thomas Jefferson in order to counter the influence of the rival Federalist newspaper, the Gazette of the United States. Not unlike 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. Many prominent 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, attacked this as a conflict of interest. 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.