ABSTRACT
Antagonism toward the Republican party was so strong that most of its newspapers could not obtain enough subscriptions or advertising to survive, and hence they became dependent on printing contracts provided by federal, state, and local governments in the case of the Reconstruction South. In the 19th century the American two-party system relied heavily on newspapers. Editors transmitted party doctrine to their readers, refuted the positions of their political opponents, rallied support for their party during elections, and sought to convert the uncommitted. With the support of the ex-slaves, the Republican party organized in every state of the former Confederacy and Republican newspapers began to emerge across the South to promote the party’s welfare and recruit members. Ironically, the very patronage that sustained Republican newspapers in the South also contributed to their demise. Party editors were desperate for this assistance, and the competition among them for government printing exacerbated, and in some cases caused, factional conflict that weakened Republican organizations.
