In its first editions, Românul helped circulate the slogans of the national emancipation ideal, and campaigned for Moldavia to join Wallachia in a union of the principalities, the basis of modern Romania. Although that union was achieved in 1859, Rosetti fell out with the elected Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, censuring his dictatorial inclinations and being in turn censored. Românul men (Rosetti, Eugeniu Carada) helped topple Cuza in February 1866, after which Românul became the expression of radicalism in government. During the early rule of Domnitor Carol, it became noted for bellicose statements favoring the incorporation into Romania of Transylvania, Bukovina, and other regions held by the Austrian Empire; it also supported Romania's full independence from the Ottoman Empire, and the creation of "Red" paramilitary units. This agenda was taken up by Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Alexandru Odobescu, and various other Românul writers. Additionally, during brief periods of conflict with Carol, Românul supported republican agitation, most openly so in the troubled year 1870. Its inclinations toward ethnic nationalism and antisemitism were additional topics of controversy.
