The American Manufacturer
Front page, 18 September 1841
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| Type | Weekly newspaper (1830–1842); daily newspaper (1837–1838) |
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| Founder(s) | William B. Conway |
| Founded | 6 March 1830 |
| Political alignment | Democratic |
| Language | English |
| Ceased publication | 3 September 1842 |
| City | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Country | United States |
The American Manufacturer was a newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, on a mostly weekly basis from 1830 until 1842. The paper was Democratic in its political leanings, and stood out as radical and provocative. Its successor by merger was the Pittsburgh Post, which by further consolidation became the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
In February, 1830, William B. Conway issued a prospectus for a new weekly newspaper to be called The American Manufacturer. He announced that the first issue would appear on March 6 of the same year, and set the subscription price at $2 per annum. Conway promised that "American Manufactures, Agriculture, and Internal Improvement, will find in him an unwavering advocate."
Upon founding the Manufacturer, or at least not long thereafter, Conway associated himself with Richard Phillips in the conduct of the paper.
From the start, the paper took radical grounds in favor of political, social and religious reforms. It supported the ideas of Frances Wright, and offended the pious with its skepticism toward religious authority and practices. Conway's inflammatory views gained him among his enemies the nickname "the vile and speckled reptile."
By March 1833, Conway retired from the editorial chair and left Phillips, the junior editor, in sole charge.
Phillips continued the paper's religious irreverence. In June 1833, impugning the efficacy of religion as a means of warding off cholera, he editorialized: "Religious devotion, we say, is particularly ridiculous, and not more ridiculous than injurious." Concerning those who attended church on special fast days to pray against the disease, he said that they might be divided into two classes, "the cunning but servile sycophant of popularity, and the simple dupes who swallow all, for orthodoxy, which their preachers and leaders tell them." The paper invoked wrath from churches and rival newspapers by calling for the public celebration of the birthday of Thomas Paine. The editor of the Allegheny Democrat, regarding Paine as an "infidel," wrote, "It is to be hoped for the credit of our city that but few will participate in this abominable festival."
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