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'''John Fenno''' (1751 --1798), was a [[Federalist Party]] editor and major figure in the history of American newspapers.  His ''[[Gazette of the United States]]'' played a major role in shaping the beginnings of [[First Party System|party politics]] in the United States in the 1790s.  

'''John Fenno''' (1751 --1798), was a [[Federalist Party]] editor and major figure in the history of American newspapers.  His ''[[Gazette of the United States]]'' played a major role in shaping the beginnings of [[First Party System|party politics]] in the United States in the 1790s.  

Fenno was born in Boston, the son of Ephraim Fenno, leather-dresser and alehouse keeper, and Mary Chapman.  He wed Mary Curtis, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, on May 8, 1777, and the couple had thirteen children.  Fenno spent some early years as a teacher, and was secretary to General [[Artemas Ward]] during part of the [[American Revolution]].  Failure of an import business led to a move to New York City, which at that time was the nation's capital.  Having previously written for the ''Massachusetts Centinel'', Fenno on April 11, 1789 in New York City published the first issue of the ''Gazette of the United States'' to support [[Federalist Party (United States)|Federalist Party]] positions.  Fenno moved it to Philadelphia when the national capital moved there in 1790.  

Fenno was born in Boston, the son of Ephraim Fenno, leather-dresser and alehouse keeper, and Mary Chapman.  He wed Mary Curtis, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, on May 8, 1777, and the couple had thirteen children.  Fenno spent some early years as a teacher, and was secretary to General [[Artemas Ward]] during part of the [[American Revolution]].  Failure of an import business led to a move to New York City, which at that time was the nation's capital.  Having previously written for the ''Massachusetts Centinel'', Fenno on April 11, 1789 in New York City published the first issue of the ''Gazette of the United States'' to support [[Federalist Party]] positions.  Fenno moved it to Philadelphia when the national capital moved there in 1790.  

As opposing factions, centered around [[Alexander Hamilton]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], developed within President [[George Washington|Washington's]] administration, political newspapers such as the ''Gazette'' became increasingly important.  Fenno's little three-column folio, printed on a sheet seventeen by twenty-one inches, became the semi-official government newspaper, with a share of the government's printing and with contributions from prominent Federalists such as [[John Adams]]. Hamilton was especially active, writing articles under various pseudonyms and rescuing the editor from bankruptcy in 1793 by raising $2,000 to pay off creditors.  

As opposing factions, centered around [[Alexander Hamilton]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], developed within President [[George Washington|Washington's]] administration, political newspapers such as the ''Gazette'' became increasingly important.  Fenno's little three-column folio, printed on a sheet seventeen by twenty-one inches, became the semi-official government newspaper, with a share of the government's printing and with contributions from prominent Federalists such as [[John Adams]]. Hamilton was especially active, writing articles under various pseudonyms and rescuing the editor from bankruptcy in 1793 by raising $2,000 to pay off creditors.