BV 6: The Balance and Columbian Repository from Hudson, NY, 1803 and 1804

The January 3, 1804 issue is misbound and follows page 72 in the book. Also, the February 14, 1804 (pages 49-56) and November 27, 1804 (pages 377-384) issues are missing. Because they are bound volumes, all issues are given continuous page numbers. Even though almost all issues are represented, here are some major highlights and articles of interest.

Jan. 3

  • Page 1 - Harry Croswell is now the sole owner of The Balance
  • Page 2 - Anti-Burr pamphlet concerning libel and truth
  • Page 6 - Cruelty of French in Hayti [Haiti]
  • Page 7 - Wilkerson is in New Orleans
  • Page 8 - Carrier Address on the free press

Jan. 10

  • Page 14 - Maryland passes Constitutional Amendment / United States takes over Louisiana / Admiral Nelson subdues the Dey of Algiers / Bonaparte has not invaded England
  • Page 15 - War between Spain and England / Murder and suicide in Connecticut / Jerome Bonaparte marries Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore
  • Page 16 - Thomas Paine

Jan. 17

  • Page 19 - Carrier Address reviewed
  • Page 22 - Senate bill to organize and divide Louisiana territory

Jan 24

  • Page 30 - Judge Chase's impeachment trial begins
  • Page 31 - France has lost over 57,000 new soldiers during the last eight years in Santo Domingo / Croswell advertises the new "Life of Washington" by John Marshall
  • Page 32 - The Connecticut Courant Carrier Address

Jan. 31

  • Page 38 - General Claibourne announced the surrender of New Orleans to the United States on Dec. 31, 1803
  • Page 40 - The Connecticut Courant Carrier Address concluded

Feb. 7

  • Page 41 - Chase impeachment trial
  • Page 43 - Carrier Addresses reviewed / Aaron Burr
  • Page 45 - Congress voted for the Presidential Election amendment on December 2, 1803 / Boston printers suffer fire / Delaware rejects the 12th Amendment / Preparations for the invasion of England by France
  • Page 48 - Scots celebrate Robert Burns's birthday with a poem / Forks were introduced into England in 1608 / Duel ends when one participant walks away

Feb. 21

  • Page 58 - Alexander Hamilton defends Harry Croswell in a new libel trial / New York Legislature considers bill to make truth a defense in libel cases
  • Page 62 - George Washington Parke Custis aids the poor with fuel from Mount Vernon

Feb. 28

  • Page 67 - More carrier addresses reviewed
  • Page 70 - New Jersey passes gradual abolition of slavery bill

Mar. 6

  • Page 79 - New York ratifies the 12th Amendment / Bonaparte contemplates English invasion

Mar. 15

  • Page 83 - Hoax: Bonaparte invades England
  • Page 85 - Ohio antiquities

Mar. 20

  • Page 94 - US Frigate Philadelphia is lost in Africa / Fire in Norfolk, VA

Mar. 27

  • Page 98 - New York Legislature considers a new sedition law
  • Page 100 - Readings for female improvement
  • Page 102 - Election tickets
  • Page 110 - Name of Santo Domingo changed to Hayti / Mammoth whale near Philadelphia / Rhode Island ratifies the 12th Amendment / Official: The USS Philadelphia lost at Tripoli

Apr. 10

  • Page 118 - Congress passes a new tax of ten dollars on imported slaves / Senate votes down bill to move the government from Washington to Baltimore (19-9)
  • Page 119 - Black atrocities in Hayti denied claiming that their only war is against French soldiers / Governor General Dessalines offers forty dollars to any ship captain to return citizens of Hayti home as many in the United States want to come back

Apr. 17

  • Page 122 - Balance editor Harry Croswell comments on the elections

Apr. 24

  • Page 131 - Liberty of the Press article / New Hampshire bridge collapses

May 1

  • Page 142 - Philadelphia to Pittsburgh state planned
  • Page 144 - Election satire: "This is the house that George built"

May 8

  • Page 149 - Fredonia is proposed as a name for the United States / Steam saw mill in operation
  • Page 150 - Family slaves separated in Charleston, SC sale

May 22

  • Page 162 - The proposed Louisiana Festival is lampooned because spending such a large sum for land, of which we know little, could be a waste of tax money
  • Page 166 - Commodore Preble reports the destruction of the USS Frigate Philadelphia which had been captured by Tripoli / Stephen Decatur led the exciting raid on Tripoli harbor

May 29

  • Page 169 - Morgan Lewis is elected New York Governor over Aaron Burr
  • Page 174 - Vicious runaway slave advertisement

June 5

  • Page 183 - Execution of the Duke of Engheim
  • Page 184 - Ancient Colonial punishments of Massachusetts

June 12

  • Page 186 - Harry Croswell found not guilty in libel trial

June 19

  • Page 191 - Dreadful carnage in Hayti
  • Page 197 - Governor General J.J. Dessalines abolishes slavery in Hayti and recommends that other nations follow suit
  • Page 199 - Professions of people in Washington

June 26

  • Page 207 - Captain Meriwether Lewis to explore the Louisiana territory

July 3

  • Page 215 - Americans are impressed by the British navy / Shoplifter nabbed

July 10

  • Page 221 - South Carolina legislature will not act on slave trade
  • Page 223 - Rhode Island vessels in the South Carolina slave trade / New Hampshire ratifies the 12th Amendment / Yellow fever on Long Island / Story on the beginning of the Lewis and Clark expedition mentions an Indian maiden - Sacajawea

July 17

  • Page 229 - Virginia has more influence in Congress than Massachusetts because slaves count as population but Massachusetts has far more free men, so the slave vote counts
  • Page 231 - Notice of Hamilton killed in a duel with Aaron Burr
  • Page 232 - Robert Burns poem "Bannock Burn" - "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled..."

July 24 ** This issue and next issue (July 31) are "black-bordered" issues. To mourn Alexander Hamilton's death, publisher Harry Croswell changed his normal column dividers from two thin black lines bordering a white band to a thick black line. This was a typical newspaper construction at the time to symbolize the country's mourning. **

  • Page 236 - New York workmen uncover an old, buried, brick arched structure
  • Page 237 - Correspondence between Hamilton and Burr leading up to the duel
  • Page 239 - Hamilton's funeral

July 31

  • Page 241 - Governor Morris's funeral oration for Hamilton
  • Page 246 - Description of Hamilton's first wayward shot in the duel
  • Page 247 - Bonaparte is declared Emperor of Frace and names new Generals and Marshals
  • Page 248 - Poem about Hamilton's grave

Aug. 7

  • Page 254 - British prohibit slave trade in their colonies

Aug. 14

  • Page 257 - Aaron Burr is indicted for Hamilton's murder
  • Page 260 - John Marshall publishes his five volumes on "The Life of Washington"
  • Page 271 - James Monroe to be Governor of Louisiana / Jerome Bonaparte is in the United States

Aug. 28

  • Page 277 - Satire against Paine

Sept. 4

  • Page 279 - The indictment against Burr for murder
  • Page 285 - General Charles Lee letter to General John Burgoyne in 1775

Sept. 11

  • Page 290 - The British impressments of American seamen
  • Page 291 - Virginia slaves are whipped if they are found in church
  • Page 292 - 1788 Washington letter that praises Hamilton
  • Page 295 - Maria Louis Toussaint, widow of late Haytian leader Toussaint L'Overture in NY

Sept. 18

  • Page 301 - Two adventurers fool a lady, almost.

Sept. 25

  • Page 310 - Hayti declares war on Spain
  • Page 311 - Description of the new Legion of Honor in France

Oct. 2

  • Page 315 - Description of the United States Navy in 1799
  • Page 318 - Brown University is founded in Rhode Island

Oct. 9

  • Page 325 - Will there be war between the United States and Spain?
  • Page 326 - Hurricane hits the southern United States

Oct. 16

  • Page 333 - Description of the Natural Bridge in Virginia
  • Page 334 - 12th Amendment is official ratified / Dessalines is made Emperor of Hayti / Details on the devastation caused by the hurricane that hit Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC

Oct. 23

  • Page 342 - The situation in Hayti

Oct. 30

  • Page 349 - Excerpts from a narrative of Hannah Barnhard, a Quaker
  • Page 350 - Bigamy case on Long Island, NY

Nov. 6

  • Page 356 - Union College in Schenectady gets underway

Nov. 13

  • Page 361 - The cost of the Louisiana Purchase to the United States
  • Page 365 - Article on the slavery of Negroes

Nov. 20

  • Page 372 - President Thomas Jefferson's State of the Union address

Dec. 4

  • Page 385 - Anti-Jefferson editorial
  • Page 388 - "The British Spy, Letter II" is reprinted

Dec. 11

  • Page 395 - Probable election returns: Jefferson and Clinton: 163 electoral votes - Federal ticket: 13
  • Page 396 - "British Spy Letter I"
  • Page 398 - The situation in Tripoli

Dec. 18

  • Page 401 - New-York Evening Post editorial on the election
  • Page 404 - Gallatin's Treasury report

Dec. 25

  • Page 413 - Judge Chase's Impeachment / Bill is introduced in Congress to count only free men when allocating representatives and direct taxes to the States
  • Page 414 - New York fire

For questions, please contact Dr. Doug Cumming.