The elder Hamilton lived through the 1834 anti-abolitionist riots in New York and was critical of pacifist abolitionist newspapers like The Liberator.

[6] The newspaper and magazine were the first publications to run Martin Delany's serialized novel, Blake; or the Huts of America.

The weekly's contributors included Martin Delany, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Edward Wilmot Blyden, and Sarah Mapps Douglass.

"[6] The paper had early successes in its coverage of slavery resistance, the Dred Scott v. Sandford case, and the Raid on Harpers Ferry.

Due to financial troubles, the Hamiltons sold the weekly newspaper to George Lawrence, Jr., and James Redpath, who renamed it to The Pine and Palm.