17 Facts About Joseph Dennie

Joseph Dennie was an American author and journalist who was one of the foremost men of letters of the Federalist Era.

Joseph Dennie began preparing to enter Harvard College in 1785, under the guidance of Reverend Samuel West.

West had a significant impact on Joseph Dennie, fostering his pupil's interest in literature, as well as instilling in Joseph Dennie a decidedly pro-British mindset.

In 1787 Joseph Dennie was admitted to the sophomore class of Harvard College, where he was very popular with his peers.

Joseph Dennie had difficulty finding suitable employment after earning his degree in 1790, but by 1793 he was practicing law.

Shortly after writing the letter, Joseph Dennie was admitted to the Court of Common Pleas and opened a practice in Charlestown.

In 1795, his writing being enthusiastically received, Joseph Dennie was persuaded to begin a literary journal, The Tablet.

In 1798 Joseph Dennie lost a considerable amount of money when the paper's printer went bankrupt.

Joseph Dennie remained as editor for a few months afterward at a reduced salary but was replaced by the printer's brother.

Later in the year Joseph Dennie ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress; following this defeat, he turned down offers to edit several prominent journals, including a generous offer from Boston's Independent Chronicle, as he refused to work for a Democratic paper.

Once in Philadelphia, Joseph Dennie resumed his editorial career with the Gazette of the United States, a Federalist-friendly newspaper.

However, when Joseph Dennie criticized democracy, it was not the republican democracy found in the United States today, but rather the "democracy" found in France under Robespierre and Napoleon.

Joseph Dennie had health trouble throughout his life, as well as a predilection for wine.

Joseph Dennie's father died on September 28,1811; Dennie was not able to attend his father's funeral, as he himself was gravely ill at the time, and this caused him great grief.

Joseph Dennie briefly recovered, but succumbed to cholera morbus four months after his father's death.

Joseph Dennie died on January 7,1812, and was interred two days later at St Peter's Church, Philadelphia.

The epitaph erroneously gives Lexington, Massachusetts, as his birthplace; in fact, Joseph Dennie was born in Boston, but his family moved to Lexington shortly thereafter.