Horace Greeley (1811-1872)Newspaper pubkisher, statesman, born in Amherst NH. He received irregular schooling. Apprenticed to a newspaper in Vermont, and printer in New York and Pennsylvania. In 1831, moved to New York City. In 1834, he founded a weekly: the New Yorker. Eager to write, Greeley contributed to the journal. He supplemented his income by writing, especially in support of the Whig party. In 1840, to his editorof the campaign weekly. The paper's circulation rose to 90,000, and contributed both to William Henry Harrison's victory and Greeley's influence. In 1841, he launched the New York Tribune.. An egalitarian and idealist, Greeley espoused the ideas of Fourier, and invested in a Fourier utopian community at Red Bank NJ. He attacked the exploitation of labor, monopolies. Opposed capital punishment. The Tribune proved an enormous success. By the Civil War had a total circulation of a quarter of a million. Greeley opposed slavery and the Mexican War, denounced the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Greeley's sentiments brought him into the Republican party's camp, attended their national convention in Chicago. Initially supporting Edward Bates, turned to Lincoln. After the war, he joined the Congressional radicals in supporting equality for the freedmen. Advocated the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. Greeley favored restoration of relations with the South. In 1867, he recommended Jefferson Davis's release and signed Davis's bond..When in 1872, the anti-Grant Liberal Republicans and the Democrats nominated Greeley to challenge Grant, Greeley was attacked as a fool and a crank.. He suffered defeat, carrying only six states. The era of personal editorship was ending, and Greeley's influence diminished. Following his defeat, Greeley found that control of the paper had passed out of his hands. Shocked by his electoral repudiation, the recent death of his wife, and the effective loss of his editorship, Greeley suffered a breakdown of both mind and body, and died on November 29, 1872.

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