Governor of Idaho
Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )
The Democratic editor of the Walla Walla Statesman has consistently opposed Republican Wallace - who had been appointed governor of Washington Territory by Lincoln, then elected delegate from W.T., then appointed governor of the newly created Idaho Territory, then elected delegate from that territory, and is now rumored to be returning as governor..
Walla Walla Statesman
Walla Walla W.T.: R.R. and S.G. Rees
article
Negro Suffrage
The editor of the Walla Walla Statesman argues that the editorials of the Democratic newspapers New York News and the New York World, advocating the black franchise, are ill-considered efforts to build a black constituency for the Democratic Party. He suggests that the radical abolitionists have bribed the editors of these newspapers and argues that their advocacy denies the Party's principles, and that good Democrats will not adopt it. This was significant advice to Washington Territory Democrats, who did oppose the black franchise.
Walla Walla Statesman
Walla Walla W.T.: R.R. and S.G. Rees
article
Taxation - Poverty - Wealth
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
This report would have been of interest and would have brought satisfaction to those Democrats who opposed the huge growth of federal power during the Civil War, including taxation and the issuance of greenback currency. The dire predictions of the effects of the national debt include longstanding high taxation and depression of purchasing power. Throughout the war, this newspaper's editor had speculated on the Lincoln administration's unconstitutional powers, and on their designs to seize or tax the mines of Idaho and Washington.
Walla Walla Statesman
Walla Walla W.T.: R.R. and S.G. Rees
article
Negro Suffrage in Connecticut
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
Though the editor of the Walla Walla Statesman here reprints this abolitionist editorial without comment, he has made it clear that he is opposed to black male suffrage. The excerpted editorial also sets out the partisan nature of this issue, with Democrats ranged against the extension of suffrage to black. And in Connecticut, this change to the law would extend the franchise to blacks who had been free rather than the southern blacks who had been slaves. This issue was very live in Washington Territory, where rallies took place in Olympia, to oppose the extension of suffrage.
Walla Walla Statesman
Walla Walla W.T.: R.R. and S.G. Rees
Abolition paper
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Freedmen Not Yet Free
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
The tone of these brief comments in the Walla Walla Statesman conveys the editor's disapproval of the uncertain situation of these newly-freed slaves, interpreting it as shiftlessness. He has argued, at times, that slavery was preferable to such freedom.
Walla Walla Statesman
Walla Walla W.T.: R.R. and S.G. Rees
article
After Them
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
The editor of the Walla Walla Statesman responds to an editorial in the Umatilla (O) Advertiser which deplored the vigilante execution of the black man Green, whose crime and murder was reported in a previous edition of the Statesman. The Statesman editor does not deny that vigilante justice has its risks, but also makes a comparison between extra-legality of the military tribunals which administered wartime justice in the United States and the extra-legality of the postwar vigilance committee. And he points out that not all men lynched by such committees are black.
This editorial has local application in Washington Territory and Idaho Territory because of the well-publicized activities of the vigilance committees there.
Walla Walla Statesman
Walla Walla W.T.: R.R. and S.G. Rees
Umatilla Advertiser
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Jeff. Davis Caused It
Confederate States of America
The Walla Walla Statesman indicates that it was former C.S.A. President Jefferson Davis' stubborn insistence on full independence that made the terms of surrender particularly stringent.
Walla Walla Statesman
Walla Walla W.T.: R.R. and S.G. Rees
Oregonian
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Guilty of the Assassination
Assassination
The editor of the Walla Walla Statesman notes that the telegraph is once more operational, and prints a news item from the Oregonian (Portland, O) that Mrs. Suratt [sic] and three others have been executed after their conviction in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. This article also mentions that former C.S.A. President Jefferson Davis has been moved, to wait trial in the conspiracy. Additionally, the article mentions efforts to moderate the death sentence of Mary Surratt.
Walla Walla Statesman
Walla Walla W.T.: R.R. and S.G. Rees
Oregonian
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Negro Peonage
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
The Walla Walla Statesman editor suggests in his comments on this report that slavery was more beneficial to black men and women in the American south than freedom. The "peonage" referred to in the article's title describes the agricultural servitude of tenant farming - or worse. This postwar claim speaks to the Statesman editor's conviction that the war properly concerned saving the union and did not or should not be concerned with freeing black slaves or "making" them equal.
Walla Walla Statesman
Walla Walla W.T.: R.R. and S.G. Rees
article
The New Military Department
United States Army
The Walla Walla Statesman reports the arrival of a telegram that announces the creation of the new Military Department of Columbia, comprising the states of Oregon and California, and Washington Territory. General George Wright is to command this new department.
Walla Walla Statesman
Walla Walla W.T.: R.R. and S.G. Rees
article