Tree of Liberty (newspaper)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Front page, 13 February 1802 | |
| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | John D. Israel |
| Founded | 16 August 1800[1] |
| Political alignment | Democratic-Republican |
| Language | English |
| Ceased publication | circa 1810[1] |
| City | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Country | United States |
The Tree of Liberty, published weekly from 1800 to about 1810, was the second newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.[2] John D. Israel established the paper and issued it from a building owned by Hugh Henry Brackenridge.[3] Israel's columns promoted the Democratic-Republican politics of Thomas Jefferson while denouncing Federalists and their local organ, the Pittsburgh Gazette.[4]
With the issue of 24 December 1805, Walter Forward assumed control of the paper with the participation of his friends Henry Baldwin and Tarleton Bates.[5][6] In that time of disunity among Pennsylvania's Democratic-Republicans, the Tree sided with the moderate wing of the party supporting Governor Thomas McKean and clashed with the Commonwealth, a mouthpiece for the party's radical anti-McKean faction.[7] Tensions with the Commonwealth came to a head when that paper's editor, Ephraim Pentland, wrote attacks on Bates and Baldwin. Bates retaliated by lashing Pentland with a whip, causing further confrontations that ended with Bates's death in a duel with one of Pentland's associates.[8]
The Tree changed hands from Forward to William Foster in April 1807,[9] after which it remained in publication for approximately three years.[2]
