About Northern star, and Warren and Bristol gazette. [volume] (Warren [R.I.]) 1826-1830
Warren [R.I.] (1826-1830)

Northern Star and Warren and Bristol Gazette, The Northern Star, and Farmers' and Mechanics' Advocate, Rhode-Island Constitutionalist, The Northern Star, and Constitutionalist, The Northern Star, and Farmers' and Mechanics' Advocate, and The Northern Sta

Samuel M. Fowler and Charles Randall, a nephew of Judge Samuel Randall, started the Northern Star and Warren and Bristol Gazette on February 25, 1828 under the firm name of Fowler & Randall. They published the paper weekly on Saturday mornings and devoted it to the support of "Agriculture, Commerce and Manufactures." It was launched to fill a vacuum of news printed in the busy port towns of Bristol and Warren, as stated in that first issue: "The subscribers having made arrangements with the publisher of The Telegraph for the discontinuance of that paper, propose to issue... a publick newspaper."

The first issue proclaimed: "That two commercial towns, of the importance and respectability of Warren and Bristol, should be for the space for fifteen years almost entirely destitute of a newspaper, is unparalleled in the annals of our country." It further stated that the two towns "have been for a long time dependent upon the larger towns, their rivals in trade, for a Press to assert their just rights, make known the extent of their foreign and domestick trade and their consequent importance in the commercial world."

The banner on the masthead read: "Our God. Our Country. Our--selves." The publishers continued to define the mission: "With regard to politicks they bind themselves to no set of men, and will never be a tool in the hands of party or individual... Although they will ever maintain that freedom which the Constitution intended the press to have, they will never offer it to become the vehicle of private malice or publick scandal."

Lists of arriving and departing ships were featured. Although the U.S. Congress passed an act prohibiting the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1794, Bristol and Warren were still fueling the trade in the 1820s by building ships and transporting molasses and its derivative--rum. This trade was particularly active with Cuba in Havana and Mantanzas, where several local merchants owned sugar plantations.

The paper published poetry from periodicals including the U.S. Literary Gazette and the Baltimore American, news from Europe from The New-York Statesman, and local advertisements for topics from runaway wives to mortgage auctions. By 1830, only Charles Randall remained as printer and publisher, and the newspaper was full of advertisements for local goods and services. In 1830, the title was changed to The Northern Star, and Farmers' and Mechanics' Advocate.

In August 1834, this title ceased when the newspaper merged with the Rhode-Island Constitutionalist to form the The Northern Star, and Constitutionalist. Based in Providence, the Committee of the Constitutional Convention published the Rhode-Island Constitutionalist and released only two issues before the merger.

On September 9, 1837 the title changed again, this time back to The Northern Star, and Farmers' and Mechanics' Advocate, with Charles Randall still at the helm. In 1849, the title was changed to The Northern Star until 1855, when it ceased publication.

Provided by: Rhode Island Digital Newspaper Project