New York Courier and Enquirer
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| Type | Daily |
|---|---|
| Format | broadsheet |
| Publisher | James Watson Webb |
| Founded | June 1829 |
| Ceased publication | June 1861 |
| Headquarters | New York |
| OCLC number | 9348981 |
The New York Courier and Enquirer, properly called the Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer, was a daily broadsheet newspaper published in New York City from June 1829 until June 1861, when it was merged into the New York World. Throughout its life it was edited by newspaper publisher James Watson Webb. It was closely connected with the rise and fall of the United States Whig Party, and was noted for its careful coverage of New York Harbor shipping news and its close attention to speeches and events in the United States Congress.
The Courier and Enquirer was based upon the merger of two pre-existing newspapers, editor Webb's New York Morning Courier (1827) and another paper, Mordecai Noah's New-York Enquirer. After Webb purchased the Enquirer in 1829, he merged the two Manhattan-based news sheets together to form the Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer, usually called simply the Courier and Enquirer. At that time a partisan supporter of newly elected President Andrew Jackson, Webb ran his newspaper in the interest of what was becoming the Democratic Party. He hired young journalist James Gordon Bennett, Sr. to be his associate editor.
By the 1830s, Bennett's and Webb's Courier and Enquirer had developed a crack reportorial system for gathering news from New York-based ships and from Washington, D.C. The paper was able to compile the resources necessary to set up a pioneering pony express system to carry dispatches from the U.S. Capitol. In one 1830 coup, the Courier and Enquirer obtained the text of Jackson's annual message to Congress in only 27.5 hours.
However, New York's growing business community felt increasing dislike for Jackson's populism. As a member of this class and social network, Webb was pulled away from his old ties—and attracted towards the political circle around Webb's new friend, federal senator Henry Clay. Clay, although he was from Kentucky, was taking the lead in defense of New York's growing banking sector against attacks from Jacksonians.
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