Background
William Duane was born on May, 17, 1760 near Lake Champlain, New York, United States.
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William Duane was born on May, 17, 1760 near Lake Champlain, New York, United States.
Going to India in 1787, Duane established the Indian World at Calcutta, which brought him both prestige and fortune.
Because of his denunciations of the methods of the East India Company, and his espousal of grievances of army officers, he was arrested without a charge, deported without trial, and his property was confiscated.
Returning to London where he served as parliamentary reporter for the General Advertiser, later merged with the Times, he vainly sought the restitution of his property through Parliament and the courts.
Finally despairing of justice, he left England in disgust, and took up his residence in Philadelphia, where he became associated with Benjamin Franklin Bache in editing the Aurora. He made the Aurora the most powerful organ of the Jeffersonians.
His genius in controversy and management, his courage and audacity, the sincerity and intensity of his convictions, and his virile style of writing, made him the most effective journalist of his time.
In the spring of 1799 he was arrested on the charge of creating a seditious riot by offering for signatures, petitions for the repeal of the Alien Law, but he was promptly acquitted in the state courts.
Because of his exposure of the brutality of the undisciplined and idle volunteer soldiery mobilized for the war with France, projected by the Hamiltonian wing of the Federalists, he was murderously assailed by armed men, and his property saved from destruction only by the timely arrival of a group of Democrats.
In the fall of 1799 he was indicted under the Sedition Law, but the trial was postponed until the following June, and then again postponed, and the charge dismissed when Jefferson acceded to the presidency.
All these desperate attempts at intimidation failed of their purpose, for he continued in his course with unabated energy.
Perhaps his most important service to the nation was his exposure of the secret plan of the Federalists to prevent the election of Jefferson through the notorious Ross Election Bill.
Copies of this measure, then pending in the Senate behind closed doors, were sent him under cover, and its publication with vigorous comments so aroused the public wrath that it was defeated.
No single person did more to discredit the projected war with France over the X. Y. Z. incident, to make the Alien and Sedition Laws abhorrent, to arouse and munition the masses, and make the triumph of Jefferson in 1800 inevitable.
With Jefferson’s election, the career of Duane moved toward an anti-climax.
The removal of the capital to Washington deprived his paper of its advantage.
The editor, encouraged by Jefferson and Gallatin, opened a store in Washington in expectation of the government contract for printing and stationery, but the plans miscarried, and Duane never forgave the slighting of his claims.
He soon broke with Gallatin, and ultimately turned on Madison and Monroe.
In local politics, where he remained a power, he led the radical or anti-judiciary faction against Gov. Thomas McKean.
To Jefferson, however, he remained a faithful follower and devoted friend.
His idol sought in numerous ways to serve him, appointing him lieutenant-colonel of rifles in July 1808, and soliciting subscriptions to relieve him of financial embarrassment in 1811.
Duane served as adjutant-general through the War of 1812, and continued in the editorship of the Aurora until 1822, when he retired to travel in South America.
On his return, he was made prothonotary of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, for the eastern district, and he held this position until his death.
In his last years he made an unsuccessful attempt to revive the Aurora to fight the National Bank.
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
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( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
Quotes from others about the person
“I believe Duane to be a very honest man, and sincerely republican; but his passions are stronger than his prudence, and his personal as well as general antipathies render him very intolerant. ” (Jefferson)
William's first wife, Catharine Corcoran, died in 1798, a few months before the death of Bache, and in 1800 Duane married Margaret (Markoe) Bache, widow of his colleague and owner of the Aurora. By her he had five children.
