Doomscrolling in the 1850s

"It was a fair question in November 1851, when Moby-Dick was published; it was still an open one in November 1857, when the first issue of The Atlantic Monthly came out. American life felt unmoored. Political conflict over slavery continued unabated, having brought violence to the plains of Kansas and the floor of the Senate in the previous year. A global financial panic gripped markets and crippled businesses."

""In this kingdom of illusions," Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in that first issue of The Atlantic, "we grope eagerly for stays and foundations." The magazine he helped start was dedicated to finding these stays and foundations. It was the intellectual equivalent of publications such as Day's New-York Bank Note List and Counterfeit Detecter, which helped readers navigate the bewildering array of paper currency circulating in 19th-century America."

Late-1850s America felt unmoored amid violent political conflict over slavery, a global financial panic, and a flood of print information of uncertain value. Founders of The Atlantic sought to provide durable intellectual foundations and reliable guidance during that overload. Ralph Waldo Emerson urged readers to seek "stays and foundations," and the magazine positioned itself as an intellectual equivalent to practical guides that helped Americans navigate chaotic paper currency. The 1850s saw dramatic expansion in newspapers and periodicals, with a reported 118 percent increase in newspapers and nearly 1 billion copies printed under roughly 4,000 titles.

Read at The Atlantic