1751-1798 Federalist Newspaper Editor

Literary Beginnings.

Although he became one of the most prominent newspaper publishers in the new republic, John Fenno was not born to that business. His father was a leather tanner and tavern keeper, and while Fenno had some schooling, he did not attend college or have the classical education that other literary figures enjoyed. Fenno was born in Boston on 23 August 1751 and worked for some years as an assistant teacher at the Old South Writing School. During the Revolution he served as secretary to Gen. Artemas Ward. He entered the publishing world after the failure of an importing business prompted him to move to New York in 1789.

Newspaper.

Fenno soon began to make a name for himself among people who had favored the adoption of the new Constitution, the Federalists, headed in New York by Alexander Hamilton. Fenno devised a plan for...