Newspaper Morning Republican (Little Rock, Ark.) 1868-1872 Daily republican
About Morning Republican (Little Rock, Ark.) 1868-1872
On March 1, 1866, John P. Jones and William J. Buchanan started the Daily Dispatch in Little Rock. They both worked as the editors and publishers. The Dispatch originally claimed to ignore politics, instead advocating for the interests of the state regarding things railroads, schools, and agriculture. However, the editors quickly moved into commenting on politics, taking a Republican slant. One of the paper’s rivals, the Daily Pantograph (1863-1866), had its office across the street from the Dispatch. The Pantograph editor wrote that they did not want “Yankees” like the Dispatch editors bringing their politics into Arkansas. The following year, in April 1867, John G. Price purchased the Dispatch and renamed it the Little Rock Evening Republican. Jones stayed on at the new paper, but Buchanan left at that point. Price was the editor of the Republican, which published its first issue on April 10, 1867. The Evening Republican was issued daily, except for Sundays. The following Wednesday, April 17, 1867, Jones and Price began publishing a weekly edition of the paper, the Arkansas Weekly Republican, also occasionally referred to as the Arkansas Republican. The Republican paper was the official organ of the Republican administration in Arkansas, and for a few years, the paper included “Official Journal of the City” on the masthead. As mouthpiece of the party, the Republican supported the Reconstruction policies of Governor Powell Clayton, and several of its editors participated in the legal changes that occurred as part of these new policies.
By 1868, Price became sole owner and editor of the Republican. That same year, he served as secretary of Arkansas’s constitutional convention and speaker of the House of Representatives. Price also held the state printing contract, which meant that he was responsible for printing official government documents such as the Arkansas Congressional acts. This contract subsidized his work at the Republican, published for the “Radical Republican” faction in Arkansas.
Tabbs Gross of the Arkansas Freeman (1869-18??), the first Black-owned newspaper in the state, wrote that while Arkansas Republicans talked about racial equality, their words were not backed by action. In the September 28, 1869 issue, Gross reprinted an editorial from the Republican stating that Black men were ineligible to hold a seat in Congress based on citizenship laws. In his editorial, Gross wrote that though Republican leaders acted like good friends to them, the Republican was not a friend to Black men.
In 1869, James Harvey Barton joined Price at the Republican to assist as publisher. Barton also worked as secretary to Governor Clayton. In 1871, Barton left the paper, going on to become a highly successful real estate tycoon in the southeastern U.S.
John “Poker Jack” McClure joined the Republican in Barton’s place, working as co-publisher with Price. McClure was nicknamed “Poker Jack” owing to his fondness for gambling and card games, and these habits had gotten him discharged from the Union Army. The same year McClure joined the paper, in 1871, he was appointed chief justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court by Governor Powell Clayton, just before Clayton left that position to become a senator. Under Price, the Republican had backed Clayton while he was governor, and Price and McClure continued to support him after he became a senator. McClure served concurrently as chief justice and publisher of the Republican.
In 1872, the Republican hired Joseph Carter Corbin as a reporter. The following year, Corbin was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, becoming one of the highest-elected Black officials in Arkansas during Reconstruction. Throughout his tenure as Superintendent and afterward, Corbin was instrumental in founding and running Branch Normal College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) for Black students.
In the Brooks-Baxter War from April to May of 1874, the Republican backed the ultimately unsuccessful Brooks. This war began when “Reform Republican” Joseph Brooks seized the state capitol building after refusing to accept that the existing governor, Elisha Baxter, won reelection. Both Baxter and Brooks gathered soldiers to fight. The conflict ended after President Ulysses S. Grant proclaimed Baxter the legitimate governor, backed by the support of the federal government. More than two hundred Arkansans died in the political war. Afterward, Governor Baxter took the state printing contract away from Price and McClure and gave it to the Daily Arkansas Gazette (1866-1889) in an attempt to gain Democratic supporters. By the end of 1874, Arkansas had adopted another constitution that called for vacating all public offices, ending McClure’s position on the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The Republican’s death came with the end of the Reconstruction period as the Republican Party lost power and took the state printing contract from the paper. The 1874 constitution re-enfranchised former Confederates, bringing Democrats back to the majority in the state. The Republican ceased publication in April 1875, closing the paper’s nine year run entangled in Reconstruction era politics and Republican politicians.
After the Republican closed, McClure briefly attempted to continue working in the press. In the fall of 1876, he purchased the Evening Star (1875-1878) in Little Rock and changed it from an independent political affiliation to Republican. After less than a year, he sold the Star in failure, as his Republican editorials were not popular enough to keep the paper in business. James Newton Smithee purchased the Star and renamed it the Arkansas Democrat (1878-1991). Ironically, after leaving McClure’s hands, the Democrat became one of Arkansas’s top newspapers.
Provided By: Arkansas State ArchivesAbout this Newspaper
Title
- Morning Republican (Little Rock, Ark.) 1868-1872
Other Title
- Daily republican
Dates of Publication
- 1868-1872
Created / Published
- Little Rock, Ark. : Jones & Price
Headings
- - Little Rock (Ark.)--Newspapers
- - Pulaski County (Ark.)--Newspapers
- - Arkansas--Little Rock.--https://id.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJwmWpHdMFdMkfF9VDjt8C External
- - Arkansas--Pulaski County.--https://id.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJgd8fDY6M8mfv8FbWM9Dq External
- - United States--Arkansas--Pulaski--Little Rock
Genre
- Newspapers
Notes
- - Daily (except Sunday)
- - Began in Mar. 1868.
- - -v. 5, no. 221 (Feb. 12, 1872).
- - Also issued on microfilm from the Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service.
- - Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 272 (Mar. 3, 1868).
- - Little Rock daily republican (Little Rock, Ark. : 1872) (DLC)sn 82014368 (OCoLC)8793271
Medium
- volumes
Call Number/Physical Location
- Newspaper 7103
- AN
Library of Congress Control Number
- sn82014367
OCLC Number
- 8793235
Preceding Titles
Succeeding Titles
Related Titles
LCCN Permalink
Additional Metadata Formats
Availability
- View All Front Pages
- Check the “Libraries that Have It” tab for additional newspaper issues, or, if present, select the LCCN Permalink for more LC holdings