The Whig was a polemical American newspaper published and edited by William G. "Parson" Brownlow (1805–1877) in the mid-nineteenth century. As its name implies, the paper's primary purpose was the promotion and defense of Whig Party political figures and ideals. In the years leading up to the Civil War, the Whig became the mouthpiece for East Tennessee's anti-secessionist movement. The Whig was published under several names throughout its existence, namely the Tennessee Whig, the Elizabethton Whig. the Jonesborough Whig, the Knoxville Whig, and similar variations.
The Whig was one of the most influential newspapers in nineteenth-century Tennessee, due mainly to Brownlow's editorials, which often included vindictive personal attacks and fierce diatribes. A Methodist circuit rider by trade, Brownlow partnered with publisher Mason R. Lyon under a one-year contract and launched the Whig on May 4, 1839 to counter rising Democratic sentiment in the region. He quickly made many enemies across the majority Democratic antebellum South. During his career, Brownlow survived several assassination attempts, numerous libel lawsuits, and arrest and imprisonment by Confederate authorities during the American Civil War.
Brownlow's Whig editorials attacked Democrats and Methodism's two main competitors in East Tennessee: Baptists and Presbyterians. Brownlow also attacked groups who he believed supported Democrats, such as Catholics, Mormons, and immigrants. In spite of its anti-secessionist sentiments, the Whig was staunchly pro-slavery in the early days of the Civil War but, upon Brownlow's return from exile in 1863, the paper adopted an abolitionist stance. After Brownlow was elected governor in 1865, his son became publisher of the Whig. In 1870, Whig reporter William Rule (1839–1928) launched the Knoxville Chronicle (later renamed Knoxville Journal), which is often considered the "successor" to the Whig.
Layout and publication
The Whig was a typical nineteenth-century broadsheet, usually containing four pages, each divided into five (later six) columns. Editorials and news typically occupied the first two-and-a-half pages, and advertisements occupied the last page-and-a-half. The first column often began with a song or poem, after which Brownlow launched into an editorial. Along with political and religious commentary, Brownlow also reported on his travels to various cities, dispensed advice on issues such as marriage and child-rearing, and published his own speeches in their entirety.
The masthead used for the first few issues included the phrase "Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" from the Declaration of Independence, and was soon followed by the motto, "Cry aloud, and spare not," taken from Isaiah 58:1 (KJV). The latter appeared in the paper's nameplate as early as 1839, and was used throughout much of the 1840s. In 1853, Brownlow began using the motto, "Independent in everything, neutral in nothing." For several months after the 1840 elections, the paper used Oliver Hazard Perry's famous line, "We have met the enemy, and they are ours," as its nameplate motto.
Titles
The Whig was published under the following masthead titles:
Tennessee Whig (May 16, 1839 in Elizabethton – June 13, 1839) The Elizabethton Whig (June 13, 1839 in Elizabethton – nameplate change) The Whig (May 6, 1840 – November 3, 1841) Jonesborough Whig (November 10, 1841 – May 11, 1842) Jonesborough Whig and Independent Journal (May 18, 1842 – April 19, 1849) Brownlow's Knoxville Whig and Independent Journal (May 19, 1849 – April 7, 1855) Brownlow's Knoxville Whig (April 14, 1855 – July 27, 1861) Brownlow's Weekly Whig (August 3, 1861 – October 26, 1861) Brownlow's Knoxville Whig, and Rebel Ventilator (November 11, 1863 – February 21, 1866) Brownlow's Knoxville Whig (February 28, 1866 – January 27, 1869) Knoxville Weekly Whig (February 3, 1869 – March 1870) Weekly Whig and Register (c. 1870 – 1871)
Views
Politics
In an 1842 description of the Whig, Brownlow wrote, "politically, we are WHIG— ultra whig, and of the old school— the 'sworn and eternal foe of locofocoism.'" Brownlow despised President Andrew Jackson, calling him the "greatest curse that ever yet befell this nation." The Whig supported, among other things, a strong central government, federal funding for internal improvements, a weakened presidency, a national bank, and tariffs to protect American products from foreign competition.