The Independent Journal

"The Independent Journal", occasionally known as "The General Advertiser", was a semi-weekly New York journal and newspaper edited and published by John McLean and Archibald McLean in the late 18th century. The newspaper's content included contemporary essays and notices. It is primarily remembered for being one of several newspapers to have published the Federalist Papers, a series of eighty-five articles and essays discussing and advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution written by John Jay, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton.cite book|last=Jackson|first=Kenneth T.|title=The Encyclopedia of New York City|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1995|pages=194] The "Independent Journal", was, in fact, the first of the newspapers to publish any such material, when it released the first Federalist essay on October 27, 1787, [cite book|title=The Essential Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers|last=Wootton|first=David|coauthors=Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay|publisher=Hackett Publishing|year=2003|isbn=0872206556|pages=xli] accompanied with the following notice:

Over the following month, the next seven essays were published by "The Independent Journal", and two other newspapers, "The New York Packet" and "The Daily Advertiser". The essays appeared on Saturdays and Wednesdays in "The Independent Journal", and a few days later in the other two. Following its publication of the seventh Federalist, "The Independent" made an announcement:In its announcement, the newspaper omitted to note its own publication dates, which continued to be on Wednesdays and Saturdays. [Cooke, p. xiii] However, the plan as outlined in "The Independent" was not consistently followed; "The Daily Advertiser" stopped publishing in the agreed order after the release of the tenth essay. From November 30 onward, "The New York Packet" published on Tuesday and Friday, rather than only Tuesday. [Cooke, p. xiv]

By January 8, 1788, thirty-six Federalist essays had been published between the newspapers. John McLean bundled these thirty six together and published them as Volume I, on March 22, 1788. [cite book|title=The Federalist: with Letters of "Brutus"|pages=xlvi|last=Hamilton|first=Alexander|coauthors=James Madison, John Jay, Terence Ball|year=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0521001218] Publication of the essays resumed on 11 January, and essays thirty-seven to seventy-seven were published from that time through to April 2, 1788. Before the final eight could be published publicly in the newspapers, John McLean compiled and released Volume II of the Federalist essays, which consisted of essays thirty-seven through eighty-five, on May 28, 1788. The eight unpublished essays appeared in "The Independent Journal" and "New York Packet" between June 14 and August 16. [cite web|url=http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/ratification/federalist.html|title=Introduction to "The Federalist"|first=Gordon|last=Lloyd|publisher=TeachingAmericanHistory.org|accessdate=29 September|accessyear=2008] [Emerson, p.260]

Notes

References

*cite book|title=The Federalist|last=Cooke|first=Jacob E.|coauthors=Alexander Hamilton|publisher=Wesleyan University Press|year=1982|isbn=0819560774
*cite book|title=American Literature, 1764-1789|last=Emerson|first=Everett H.|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=1977|isbn=0299072703