The Revolution (newspaper)

The Revolution (newspaper)
Name	The Revolution
Type	Weekly newspaper
Foundation	1868
Founder	Susan B. Anthony; Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Ceased publication	1872
Political	Women's suffrage; Abolitionism
Headquarters	New York City

The Revolution (newspaper). The Revolution was a weekly newspaper founded in 1868 in New York City by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to advocate for women's suffrage, civil rights, and women's rights during the Reconstruction era alongside reform movements led by figures connected to Frederick Douglass, Lucy Stone, and Sojourner Truth. Published amid debates over the 15th Amendment, the newspaper aligned with organizations and events such as the National Woman Suffrage Association, the American Equal Rights Association split, and national conventions that also involved activists from Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C..

History and founding

The paper was launched after tensions at the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Equal Rights Association; founders Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton drew on networks formed during the Seneca Falls Convention and the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments, and solicited support from allies like Frederick Douglass and critics like Lucy Stone who debated the course of suffrage strategy. Financial backing and editorial formation involved investors and printers in New York City, contacts from the Abolitionist movement, and links to reform periodicals such as The Revolution's contemporaries: The Nation, The Liberator, and Harper's Weekly. The establishment coincided with national events including the passage of the 14th Amendment and the ratification debates over the 15th Amendment that reshaped alignments among activists such as Sojourner Truth, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Paulina Wright Davis.

Editorial leadership and contributors

Primary editorial leadership rested with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who shaped policy alongside editors and correspondents from regional hubs like Boston, Rochester, New York, and Chicago. Contributors included prominent suffragists and reformers such as Lucy Stone, Frances Willard, Julia Ward Howe, Harriet Tubman, and writers connected to abolitionist presses like William Lloyd Garrison and Gerrit Smith. The editorial masthead and contributor list featured international correspondents influenced by figures in British suffrage movements, contemporaries like Emmeline Pankhurst, and reform intellectuals such as John Stuart Mill and Harriet Beecher Stowe who shaped transatlantic debates. Legal and political commentary drew on jurists and legislators referenced in coverage, including debates involving leaders from Congress and governors in states like New York and Massachusetts.

Political stance and advocacy

The Revolution advocated a radical women's suffrage position and opposed compromises that prioritized the 15th Amendment without enfranchising women, positioning itself against moderate wings associated with Lucy Stone and aligning at times with abolitionist veterans like Frederick Douglass. Editorials took issue with political actors across the spectrum, critiquing policies endorsed by leaders involved in Reconstruction-era politics and engaging with debates about civil rights following the Civil War. The paper campaigned for legal reforms affecting women in legislatures such as the New York State Assembly and invoked landmark texts like the Declaration of Independence and rulings by courts in New York City to argue for suffrage and property rights. Internationally, coverage referenced parliamentary debates in London and suffrage petitions delivered to bodies influenced by figures such as John Stuart Mill and Emmeline Pankhurst.

Content and format

The weekly broadsheet combined essays, speeches, reprinted documents, and serialized critiques, publishing speeches delivered at conventions like the National Woman Suffrage Association and testimonials from activists including Sojourner Truth, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Lucy Stone. It printed open letters to legislators, reportage from state conventions in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and critiques of contemporary periodicals such as Harper's Weekly and The Atlantic, while reprinting international dispatches referencing debates in London and Paris. The paper used columns for legal analysis citing decisions and statutes from courts and assemblies and serialized autobiographical pieces by leading reformers like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and commentators influenced by John Stuart Mill and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Distribution and circulation

Circulation targeted urban centers and reform networks in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Rochester, New York, and Chicago, relying on subscription lists, activist networks from the National Woman Suffrage Association, and sympathetic printers and booksellers. Distribution channels included newsstands, conventions such as the Seneca Falls Convention and state suffrage meetings, and alliances with abolitionist presses like The Liberator; the paper faced financial strain amid competition from periodicals in Boston and New York and fluctuating subscriber numbers as political splits with figures like Lucy Stone affected outreach. Editors sought patronage from philanthropists and reform societies tied to networks including Frances Willard's temperance movement and reform clubs in Brooklyn and Albany.

Impact and legacy

Although short-lived, the paper influenced suffrage organizing, shaped public debate around the 15th Amendment, and preserved documents and speeches later used by historians studying activists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Its archives informed later campaigns by the National American Woman Suffrage Association and the National Woman's Party, influenced suffrage literature collected alongside materials from The Nation and Harper's Weekly, and contributed to commemorations at sites like the Seneca Falls Convention and institutions including the Library of Congress. The Revolution's advocacy is cited in scholarship on Reconstruction-era rights debates and remains a touchstone in biographies of leading reformers and histories of suffrage movements in the United States and internationally.

Category:Defunct newspapers of the United States Category:Women's suffrage in the United States