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Newspaper Virginia Advocate (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860

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About Virginia Advocate (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860

The Central Gazette (1820-27) and its successor the Virginia Advocate (1827-61) were Democratic-leaning newspapers central to life in Charlottesville, Virginia. They documented important political events, local and national, that were critical to Charlottesville’s development, such as the landmark 1828 presidential election of former U.S. Army general Andrew Jackson and the southern Secession Crisis that precipitated the Civil War. Brothers Clement Pynes and John Harris McKennie established the Central Gazette on January 29, 1820; they published the paper until July 1827, after which it was succeeded by the Virginia Advocate. Thomas W. Gilmer, a former associate of the Gazette, and John Anthony Gardner Davis (of Gilmer, Davis, & Co.) began printing the Advocate as a weekly on approximately July 28, 1827, until March 22, 1828.

The Virginia Advocate provided breathless coverage of the 1828 presidential election, predicting the victory of Charlottesville’s favored candidate, the Democratic General Andrew Jackson, over the incumbent Whig John Quincy Adams, who had previously defeated Jackson to win the 1824 election. A blatantly pro-slavery and pro-secession newspaper, the Virginia Advocate’s motto was, “Error ceases to be dangerous, when reason is free to combat it.” Revealing the white-supremacist tenor of Charlottesville’s antebellum politics, the Advocate published “An Address on the Right of the State to Institute Slavery” from November 4, 1858. In this speech before the Virginia State Agricultural Society, James P. Holcombe defended the institution of slavery in no uncertain terms, contending that “the incipient civilization of the negro has been arrested by his emancipation: with the cessation of forced labor … savage habits and pleasures have resumed their ascendancy over the sable race. The attempts to instruct and civilize them have, for the most part, proved a failure.”

The Advocate has a convoluted history, and it changed ownership many times before ceasing publication in 1861 due to the outbreak of the Civil War. It was published by Davis and Nicholas P. Trist & Co. from March 29 to July 26, 1828; by Jefferson Clark from August-September 1828, for Davis and Trist, who sold out to Clark and Frank Carr on November 8, 1828; by Carr & Co. from November 1828-October 1829; by Carr and T. G. Elliot from October 1829-July 1830; by E. W. Reinhart from August 1830-31(?); by Wilson M. Cary and Egbert R. Watson from 1831-August 1832; by Watson and William Tompkins from September 1832-February 1833, or later; by Tompkins and Alexander Moseley from 1835-July 1836; by Tomkins and Robert C. Noel from August 1836-7, or later; ed. by Thomas Wood and pub. by Noel, 1840. During the 1840s and ’50s it was edited by James C. Halsall, William J. Shelton, and John L. Cochran, with O. S. Allen & Co. publishing. In 1860, the Virginia Advocate’s title changed to the Charlottesville Advocate, and it continued under J. L. Cochran until the spring of 1861, when the Civil War ignited.

Provided By: Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Virginia Advocate (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860

Dates of Publication

  • 1827-1860

Created / Published

  • Charlottesville, Va. : Gilmer, Davis & Co.

Headings

  • -  Charlottesville (Va.)--Newspapers
  • -  Virginia--Charlottesville
  • -  United States--Virginia--Charlottesville

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began with July 28, 1827? Ceased in 1860? Cf. Cappon, L.J. Va. newspapers.
  • -  Editors: T.W. Gilmer, 1827-1828; Nicholas P. Trist, 1828; Carr & Clark, 1828; F. Carr & Co., <1828-1829>; Carr & Elliot, 1829-1830, Thomas Wood, <1840>; William T. Early, 1845; V.E. Shepard, <1849> ; J.L. Cochran, <1858>.
  • -  Publisher varies: Davis, Trist & Co., <1828>; F. Carr & Co., <1829>; F. Carr & T.G. Elliot, -July 23, 1830; Mosley & Tompkins, <1835>; Noel & Saunders, 1845; E.W. Reinhart, Aug. 6, 1830- ; Watson & Tomkiss, <1833> ; R.C. Noel, <1840> ; O.S. Allen & Co., <1849-1858>.
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from the University of Virginia.
  • -  Also available online.
  • -  Also available in digital format on the Library of Congress website.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 5 (Aug. 25, 1827).
  • -  Charlottesville advocate (DLC)sn 95079518 (OCoLC)32033792

Medium

  • volumes ; 51-57 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn84024689

OCLC Number

  • 11009860

ISSN Number

  • 2767-4355

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Virginia Advocate Charlottesville, Va. -1860. (Charlottesville, VA), Jan. 1 1827. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn84024689/.

APA citation style:

(1827, January 1) Virginia Advocate Charlottesville, Va. -1860. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn84024689/.

MLA citation style:

Virginia Advocate Charlottesville, Va. -1860. (Charlottesville, VA) 1 Jan. 1827. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn84024689/.