The maps, charts, and statistics on newspaper partisanship in this work are based on my own database of partisan newspapers, 1795–1815. The original list was constructed using Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, and Lathem, Chronological Tables of American Newspapers. Newspapers were then assigned partisan identities, using a number of sources: actual inspection of the papers themselves in the course of my primary research, comments in other newspapers, local histories, state and local histories of printing and journalism, and three previous national surveys of early newspaper partisanship: Thomas, History of Printing in America, 517–25; Donald H. Stewart, “Appendix: Annotated List of Newspapers,” in his Opposition Press of the Federalist Period, 867–93; and David Hackett Fischer, “Political Affiliation of American Newspapers, October 1, 1800,” and “Federalist Electioneering Newspapers, 1800–1820,” in Revolution of American Conservatism, 413–29. Newspapers were assigned partisan identities only where some reasonably convincing evidence was available, and some mistakes and exaggerations of the Thomas, Stewart, and Fischer lists were corrected. For newspapers that I did not personally read or have independent information on, I only assigned a partisan identity where the various lists were in substantial agreement on the political complexion of a given journal. Given the unavailability or inaccessibility of many early newspapers, the maps, charts and statistics probably underestimate the actual extent of the newspaper partisanship. In any case, the statistics are intended to convey a broad sense of proportion and pattern, not scientifically precise measurements.
It should also be noted that charts 1 through 4 analyze the growth of the entire press, rather than just its partisan sector. These charts are derived from the works by Brigham and Lathem just cited, along with Weiss, Graphic Summary of the Growth of Newspapers.
CHART 1. Newspaper Growth during the Pre-Revolutionary Crisis, 1760–1775.
CHART 2. Expansion of the Newspaper Press, 1700–1820.
CHART 3. The Pace of Newspaper Creation, 1780–1820.
CHART 4. Population and Newspaper Expansion Rates, 1730S–1810S.
CHART 5. Republican vs. Federalist Newspaper Expansion, 1800–1815.
