Independent, The

Independent, The (1848–1928),New York weekly periodical, was at first a religious journal affiliated with the Congregationalists. H.W. Beecher was the editor (1861–63), and when he was succeeded by his assistant, Theodore Tilton (1863–70), the latter made it a secular periodical interested in such reforms as woman suffrage, and drew contributions from Whittier, Lowell, Greeley, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Garrison. Under later editors, it became an interdenominational religious and literary organ, with contributions from Bryant, Longfellow, Holmes, Harte, Aldrich, J.W. Riley, Helen Hunt Jackson, and Hovey. It became active in political discussion, and, after absorbing Harper's Weekly (1916), printed many pictures of the European war. After several changes of ownership and policy, it was merged with The Outlook.