Editing Courier Journal (section)

===Origins===
''The Courier-Journal'' was created from the merger of several newspapers introduced in [[Kentucky]] in the 19th century.

A pioneer paper called ''The Focus of Politics, Commerce and Literature'' was founded in 1826 in [[Louisville]] when the city was an early settlement of less than 7,000 individuals.  In 1830 a new newspaper, ''The Louisville Daily Journal'', began distribution in the city and, in 1832, the ''Journal'' absorbed ''The Focus of Politics, Commerce and Literature''. The Louisville ''Journal'' was an organ of the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] and was founded and edited by [[George D. Prentice]], a New Englander who initially came to Kentucky to write a biography of [[Henry Clay]].<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=23375897|last=Congleton|first=Betty Carolyn|title=The Louisville Journal: Its Origin and Early Years |journal=The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society |volume=62|issue=2|pages=87–88|date=April 1964}}</ref> Prentice edited the ''Journal'' for more than 40 years.

In 1844, another newspaper, the ''Louisville Morning Courier'', was founded in Louisville by [[Walter Newman Haldeman]]. ''The Louisville Daily Journal'' and the ''Louisville Morning Courier'' were leading newspapers in [[Louisville]] and were politically opposed throughout the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]; ''The Journal'' was [[Abolitionism|against slavery]] while the ''Courier'' was [[Confederate States of America|pro-Confederacy]]. The ''Courier'' was suppressed by the Union and had to move to [[Nashville]], but it returned to Louisville after the war.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

Upon the announcement of the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] that ended slavery in the Confederate states, the ''Journal'' opposed the Proclamation as an unconstitutional use of presidential power, and predicted: "Kentucky cannot and will not acquiesce in this measure. Never!"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZxOJarwChkC&pg=PA105|title=Fighting Words: An Illustrated History of Newspaper Accounts of the Civil War|last=Coopersmith|first=Andrew S.|place=New York|publisher=The New Press|year=2004|isbn=1-56584-796-2|pages=105–106|access-date=September 8, 2021|archive-date=March 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319081527/https://books.google.com/books?id=HZxOJarwChkC&pg=PA105|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Progress and Intelligence of Americans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jdcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA65|last=Wheat|first=M.T.|edition=2nd|year=1862|place=Louisville|pages=65–68|access-date=September 8, 2021|archive-date=March 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319081528/https://books.google.com/books?id=9jdcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA65|url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1868, an ailing Prentice persuaded the 28-year-old [[Henry Watterson]] to come edit for the ''Journal''. During secret negotiations in 1868, ''The Journal'' and the ''Courier'' merged, and the first edition of ''The Courier-Journal'' was delivered to Louisvillians on Sunday morning, November 8, 1868.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}