The author wishes to thank the heirs of William Cullen Bryant, Parke Godwin, John Bigelow, Carl Schurz, Horace White, Henry Villard, and E. L. Godkin for giving him access to a wealth of family papers. Important manuscript material bearing upon William Coleman was furnished by James Melvin Lee and Mary P. Wells Smith. He is under a heavy debt to Mr. Robert Bridges, editor of _Scribner’s_; Mr. Norman Hapgood, editor of _Hearst’s International Magazine_; Mr. H. J. Wright, editor of the _Globe_; Mr. Rollo Ogden, associate editor of the New York _Times_; Mr. O. G. Villard, editor of the _Nation_; Mr. Watson R. Sperry, of the Hartford _Courant_; Mr. Joseph Bucklin Bishop, Mr. Lincoln Steffens, Mr. R. R. Bowker, and Mr. Frederic Bancroft; the heirs of Charles Nordhoff and Charlton M. Lewis; and Mr. J. Ranken Towse, Mr. William Hazen, and Mr. Henry T. Finck of the _Evening Post_, for information and assistance. He is similarly obliged to the Library of Congress for aid in examining the papers of Alexander Hamilton and Carl Schurz. Portions of the manuscript were kindly read by Mr. Edwin F. Gay, president of the _Evening Post_, who has given constant advice and encouragement, Mr. Rollo Ogden, and Mr. Simeon Strunsky; and part of the proofs by Mr. Donald Scott, Mr. O. G. Villard, and Mr. H. J. Wright. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. HAMILTON AND THE FOUNDING OF THE “EVENING POST” 9 II. THE “EVENING POST” AS LEADER OF THE FEDERALIST PRESS 35 III. THE CITY AND THE “EVENING POST’S” PLACE IN IT 63 IV. LITERATURE AND DRAMA IN THE EARLY “EVENING POST” 96 V. BRYANT BECOMES EDITOR 121 VI. WILLIAM LEGGETT ACTING EDITOR: DEPRESSION, RIVALRY, AND THREATENED RUIN 139 VII. THE RISE OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION: THE MEXICAN WAR 166 VIII. NEW YORK BECOMES A METROPOLIS: CENTRAL PARK 192 IX. LITERARY ASPECTS OF BRYANT’S NEWSPAPER, 1830–1855 207 X. JOHN BIGELOW AS AN EDITOR OF THE “EVENING POST” 228 XI. HEATED POLITICS BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR 242 XII. THE NEW YORK PRESS AND SOUTHERN SECESSION 267 XIII. THE CRITICAL DAYS OF THE CIVIL WAR 284 XIV. RECONSTRUCTION AND IMPEACHMENT 326 XV. BRYANT AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS FAME AS EDITOR 338 XVI. APARTMENT HOUSES RISE AND TWEED FALLS 364 XVII. INDEPENDENCE IN POLITICS: THE ELECTIONS OF ’72 AND ’76 389 XVIII. TWO REBEL LITERARY EDITORS 406 XIX. WARFARE WITHIN THE OFFICE: PARKE GODWIN’S EDITORSHIP 420 XX. THE VILLARD PURCHASE: CARL SCHURZ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 438