Mississippi Palladium Archive

On the Tennessee border in north-central Mississippi, Marshall County's gently rolling terrain of well-drained, extremely fertile soil was perfect for growing cotton. In 1850, the area produced more than 30,000 bales of cotton and had the largest population in the state. Known as "the capital of North Mississippi," Holly Springs, the county seat, was a prosperous antebellum town.

As the Whig Party waned in Mississippi in the early 1850s, former members became Democratic Unionists or joined the American Party; Holly Springs had newspapers representing both viewpoints. The motto "Strict Adherence to the Constitution will Perpetuate the Union" belied the Unionist underpinning of the four-page, weekly Democratic Mississippi Palladium (1851-52). It was published by former Whig and owner and editor of the Holly Springs Gazette (1841-50?) Thomas A. Falconer. Despite opposing the dissolution of the union, Falconer and the Palladium's proprietor/editor Henry Stith staunchly supported states' rights, asserting that in case of discrepancies between Whig and Democratic views, the Palladium would ". . . advocate Democratic Measures and principles." Highly political and Southern in viewpoint, the Palladium focused on national issues such as the Missouri Compromise, the Wilmot Proviso, and the recent admissions of California and Texas to the Union. State and local politics were also well covered. General interest stories, organizational meetings, obituaries and advertisements were present, but not plentiful.

There is only one known extant issue of the four-page weekly Mississippi Times (1853-56?), dated September 18, 1856. Published and co-edited by Myron R. Hollister, the paper's Latin motto, "Mens Sibi Conscia Recti" can be translated as "A Mind Conscious of its Rectitude." The Times identified itself as devoted to the American Party and ". . . the Diffusion of General Intelligence . . . Current News of the Day, Political and Miscellaneous, Agriculture, Arts, Sciences, Literature, Education and Religion." In the election of 1856, the Mississippi Times supported Millard Fillmore for President of the United States, promoting him as the true defender of Southern rights and criticizing the "black Republicans" and Democrats. Politicians' public speaking engagements and a list of area "Fillmore and Donelson Clubs" primarily constituted the local news, which also included a few professional cards, advertisements, and legal notices.