Morton McMichael (October 2, 1807 – January 6, 1879) was an American newspaper editor, publisher, civic leader and mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1866 to 1869.

McMichael led the merger of the United States Gazette into the North American which also brought Robert Montgomery Bird into the organization as editor.

[5] The paper grew to prominence and McMichael became sole publisher in 1854 when co-owner Robert Montgomery Bird died.

[1] During the 1837 anti-abolition riots in Philadelphia, McMichael helped break up a mob and prevent the burning of an African-American orphanage.

[1] McMichael served his three-year term as Sheriff during the Philadelphia nativist riots and helped prevent further violence.

[13] Thoroughout the American Civil War, He saw the succession of the South as treason and that slavery was incompatible with re-consolidation of the Union and Confederacy.

[18] McMichael married Mary Estell (1822-1877) and had four children: He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1867.

[6] McMichael died on January 6, 1879, as a result of inflammatory rheumatism[6] and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery.