Monticello Republican Archive

Volume 1, Number 2, issued on April 1, 1820, is the only known extant edition of one of the earliest newspapers published in Mississippi, the Monticello Republican. The title was published in Monticello, the seat of Lawrence County located in the yellow pine woods of southwest Mississippi. Although there is no prospectus identifying political affiliation, the name of the paper may indicate support of the Democratic-Republican Party, whose adherents were also known as Jeffersonian Republicans. This party opposed a strong federal government and national bank, but championed state rights and western expansion. While political connection can only be guessed at, the newspaper was decidedly pro-Southern and pro-slavery as evidenced by reprints from other southern newspapers that saw the Missouri Compromise of 1820 as detrimental to the South. A reprint of a letter to the editor of the Columbia, S.C. Telescope stated, "The crisis [the admission with restrictions of Missouri to the Union] is awful and big with consequences fatal to the peace and safety of the southern states, and the states formed from the country acquired by the purchase of Louisiana …." Despite concerns voiced in the Republican, Maine was admitted as a free state in 1820 with no restrictions, while Missouri was admitted the next year as a slave state with the restriction that slavery was banned from remaining Louisiana Purchase lands north of the 36"30' parallel.

In addition to national political news, this issue of the four-page weekly contained anecdotes, poetry, a travelogue from South America, news of a revolt in the Spanish army, and a lengthy, reprinted article on faith from the Vermont Evangelical Magazine. Local news included a list of candidates running for trustee positions for Monticello in preparation for the town's incorporation. Among the aspirants was an H. M. Runnels, most likely the politically active founder of the town, Harmon Runnels, or one of his five sons. One son, Hiram Runnels, was Mississippi's ninth governor (1833-35). Other local information included notices of incarcerated individuals including three army deserters and a run-away enslaved man, plus several advertisements for Monticello businesses. It is unclear when the paper ceased publication.