Jonathan Elliot (publisher)

Jonathan Elliot (1784 – March 12, 1846) was an English-American printer, newspaper editor, and publisher of a series of historical document compilations. Immigrating to New York City as an adolescent, he served as a foreign volunteer during the Colombian War of Independence, before returning to the United States for a brief stint of service in the War of 1812. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1813, where he began work as a newspaper publisher. After the publication of his daily Washington City Gazette was disrupted by the British sack of Washington, he revived the paper as the Washington City Weekly Gazette. After strongly supporting the unsuccessful presidential candidacy of William H. Crawford in 1816, Elliot was rewarded with a series of lucrative printing contracts, which allowed him to return to a daily publication.

Following business conflict with John Quincy Adams and another unsuccessful candidacy by Crawford in 1824, Elliot sold the paper to John Silva Meehan and largely exited the news industry. Later in his career, Elliot published a series of history books and compilations of historical documents. These included the Debates, a three-volume overview of the state ratifying conventions of the Constitution, used as a reference text until the late 20th century, and his Resolutions, detailing the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which he saw as "the most important statement of constitutional federalism". Little is known about Elliot's personal life, beyond that he married twice and had four children. He died in Washington D.C., in March 1846, a year after publishing his final work, The Funding System of the United States and of Great Britain.