CHAPTER XV
MEXICAN WAR TO CIVIL WAR PERIOD
1846–1860
Many of the Northern newspapers opposed the admission of Texas to the Union until all controversies with Mexico had been settled in an amicable way. Later, these papers "pointed with pride" to their editorial comment of previous years and declared that if their advice had been followed there would have been no war with Mexico and that possibly the great conflict with the South might have been avoided. The Tribune, of New York, was one of these papers hostile to the Mexican War, and excited the animosity not only of office-holders, but also of well-meaning patriots. Even President Polk made a very palpable allusion to The Tribune in one of his messages. At one of the war meetings held in City Hall Park there was some talk of mobbing the office of The Tribune, but the threat was not then carried out, but was reserved until during the War of the States. The Mexican War showed the value of news to get circulation, and it was this recognition that changed the character of the American press from a "feudal" to a purely democratic regime. Party papers during this transitional period became still more independent of political parties and were changed into journals of public opinion. The attitude of the Northern press was well summed up by James Russell Lowell in his contribution of "The Biglow Papers" to The Boston Courier. These consisted of a collection of poems in Yankee dialect, supposedly written by Hosea Biglow, and edited with pseudo-learned notes by Homer Wilbur, A.M., pastor of the First Church of Jalaam.
FAMOUS PONY EXPRESS
At the beginning of the war practically every paper received its news of the conflict through the exchanges from New Orleans.
