National Intelligencer
The National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser was a newspaper published in Washington, District of Columbia from October 30, 1800 until 1870. It was the first newspaper published in the District, which was founded in 1790. It was originally a Tri-weekly publication. It covered early debates of the United States Congress. The paper had a strong bias to Republicans and Thomas Jefferson. History. The publication was founded under the named "National intelligencer and Washington Advertiser" on October 31, 1800. Its name was changed to the "National Intelligencer" starting with the issue of November 27, 1810. The newspaper was  published daily from 1813 to 1867 as the "Daily National Intelligencer" and was the dominant newspaper of the capital. During the War of 1812, its offices and printing plant were damaged by British troops as part of the Burning of Washington on August 24, 1814. The paper suspended publication on June 24, 1869. It was renewed on September 20, 1869 as the "Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express". It continued publication until January 10, 1870. Owners. Samuel Harrison Smith, a prominent newspaperman, was an early proprietor. In 1810, Joseph Gales took over as sole proprietor. He and William Winston Seaton  were its publishers for more than 50 years. At first, Gales was the Senate's sole reporter, and Seaton reported on the House of Representatives. The "Intelligencer" supported the Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe administrations, and Gales and Seaton were selected as the official printers of Congress from 1819 to 1829. In addition to printing government documents, they began compiling their reports of floor debates and publishing them in the "Register of Debates", a forerunner of the "Congressional Record". Gales and Seaton flourished during the "Era of Good Feelings," a period of relative political complacency, but after Congress was split between  the Whigs and Democrats, the partners lost their official patronage. From the 1830s to the 1850s, the "National Intelligencer" was one of the nation's leading Whig newspapers, and continued to hold conservative, unionist principles down to the Civil War, supporting John Bell and the Constitutional Union Party in the 1860 presidential election. Gales died in 1860 and Seaton retired in 1864. James Clarke Welling, who became President of Columbian University, served on the editorial staff during the Civil War. In 1865, the "National Intelligencer" was taken over by Snow, Coyle & Co. John F. Coyle had been an employee at  the paper's offices, and continued to publish the paper despite a half million dollars' worth of debts. On 30 November 1869, the statistician and economist Alexander del Mar bought the paper for cash and merged it with the "Washington Express". The short-lived "Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express"'s last daily publication in Washington was 10 January 1870. Thereafter it was published weekly in New York until at least April 1871. It later became the New York daily "City and National Intelligencer" with del Mar as editor and publisher, and a circulation of about 2,000 in 1872. National