That time Alexander Hamilton founded America’s oldest daily newspaper

How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean start a major daily newspaper?

“Hamilton” fans have learned a lot about America’s first Treasury Secretary from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s popular musical, which dropped Friday on Disney+, that they might not have known before.

Alexander Hamilton was a scrappy immigrant from Saint Kitts and Nevis. A prolific writer, he composed 51 of the Federalist Papers, but then a scandalous affair scuttled his chances for a political future.

However, many Broadway buffs don’t know about one of Hamilton’s enduring achievements, which they see every day online at newsstands: He founded the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States — The New York Post.

In an attempt to make a New York paper with a strong Federalist Party stance — as opposed to President Thomas Jefferson’s ruling Democratic-Republican Party — Hamilton sought to raise $10,000 to fund the project.

“Hamilton hoped the Post would chart a path for other Federalist newspapers and breathe life into a nearly moribund party,” author Ron Chernow wrote in his biography “Alexander Hamilton.”

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Hamilton contributed $1,000 of his own money (about $20,000 when adjusted for inflation) and, legend has it, secured the rest of the cash during a meeting at Gracie Mansion downtown, which today serves as the mayor’s residence.

The first issue was published on Nov. 16, 1801, nearly three years before Hamilton would die in an infamous duel with Aaron Burr. Starting out, the Evening Post was merely a single sheet of paper folded in half to create four pages, according to Allan Nevins’ book “The Evening Post: A Century of Journalism.” Controversial journalist James T. Callender called it “the most elegant piece of workmanship that we have seen, either in Europe or America.”

The earliest subscribers included John Jacob Astor, the great-grandfather of millionaire real estate tycoon John Jacob Astor who died in the Titanic sinking, and Daniel D. Tompkins, who later became New York governor and vice president and is the namesake of Tompkins Square Park.

The Post was not a vanity project for Hamilton, who frequently used the daily to wage vicious political battles.

From December 1801 to April 1802, Hamilton wrote an 18-piece series under the pseudonym Lucius Crassus called “The Examination” attacking President Jefferson — and he didn’t pull punches.

Click more: https://nypost.com/2020/07/03/alexander-hamilton-founded-americas-oldest-daily-newspaper/