The paper was founded in November 1860 upon the election of Abraham Lincoln as the first United States President from the Republican Party. It was started by newspaperman William J. Murtagh, who had been with the Abolitionist National Era, with investment from Hanscom and Weston, to be a pro-Lincoln administration paper. Though most associated with Murtagh, the paper's additional founders were Lewis Clephane, Martin Buell, and William Blanchard. Clephane later wrote that the paper was started "as a necessity, to represent the Republican Party of the city, and not with any hope of being remunerative."
