Missouri Democrat

City: Saint Louis

County: Saint Louis

State: Missouri

The Missouri Democrat was a newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. It originated as the Morning Signal, which began publishing in January 1852. In July 1852, a group of anti-slavery advocates purchased the Morning Signal and renamed it the Missouri Democrat. Although the staff denied that the newspaper supported abolition, the paper stood opposed to the extension of slavery into the territories and insisted that the Union be preserved. By 1856, the Democrat had become a staunchly Republican paper, coming out in support of emancipation. It strongly supported Abraham Lincoln in the 1858 Illinois senatorial race.

David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), 211; Walter B. Stevens, St. Louis: The Fourth City, 1764-1911 (St. Louis: S. J. Clarke, 1911), 1:162-64.