Page:History of Journalism in the United States.djvu/281

CHAPTER XIX

JAMES GORDON BENNETT AND THE HERALD

Jackson's administration—Bennett's innovations—Impressions which influenced his course—First political conventions—Experience in politics—New York Herald—Characteristics of its founder—Assault by James Watson Webb—Announcement of his marriage—O. G. Villard's criticism.

In a democracy, all popular institutions should tend to identify the interest of the government with that of the people, and the newspaper has been the greatest means to that end. Throughout the fast-developing country, however, large numbers of people had, until the introduction of cheap newspapers, only that share in government that came from representatives of other people's selection.

The period of Andrew Jackson's presidency, during which the modern newspaper was first sold at a price within the reach of the laboring man's purse, was one of the most remarkable in the history of the world, and " nowhere more remarkable than in the United States," says John Fiske.

It was an industrial Periclean age, during which the railroads were introduced and developed, and agricultural machines invented; it was signalized by the introduction of anthracite coal and friction matches, and of the modern type of daily newspaper; by the beginning of such cities as Chicago, by the steady immigration from Europe, the rise of the Abolitionists and other reformers, the rapid expansion of the country and the consequent extensive changes in ideas and modes of living.

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