Why the Arizona Republic newspaper was originally called the Republican


Unless you're a serious history buff, you may be surprised to find out that during the Civil War, Arizona was Confederate. That is, pro-slavery, and in favor of seceding from the Union.

Of course, Arizona had no real reason to be Confederate. The economy had never been based on slavery, and after the war, most Arizonans were anxious to remove the stigma of having ever been associated with the Confederacy. They were anxious to embrace the Union of the United States, the Republic.

The political party of Abraham Lincoln, which had been in favor of keeping the Union together, and was in favor of a strong Federal policy, were the Republicans. Democrats had been in favor of state's rights over being told what to do by the Federal Government. When the Federal Government started telling the states what to do, they went to war over it. That's the reason for the Civil War.

After the civil war, there were still plenty of pro-Confederate people in Arizona. But, like Confederate money, it was a lost cause. And the progressive people of Arizona wanted to not only side with the Union, they wanted to shout it. And Monday morning, May 19th, 1890, they shouted it with the name of a new newspaper, The Republican.

Arizona was shouting out to the world that they were not Confederate. By the 1911, Arizona had so embraced the Republic that it had attracted the Federal money to build a dam on the Salt River. And by 1912, it had won its statehood.

And if you're wondering whatever happened to the local Democratic paper, it was ultimately purchased by the Arizona Republic. It was called The Gazette.


Thank you to my patrons on Patreon who help support History Adventuring! If you like these blog posts, and would like to make suggestions for future ones, please go to patreon.com/PhoenixHistoryAdventuring where you can show your support for as little as $1 a month. Thank you!

What Patreon is http://bradhallart.blogspot.com/2016/03/supporting-creators-on-web-with-patreon.html

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why cars in the future won't need stop signs, red lights, or stripes on the road

Watching a neighborhood grow and change in Phoenix, Arizona

Why did Adolf Hitler always have such a bad haircut?