Western Carolinian

The Western Carolinian was founded in Salisbury on 13 June 1820, with Jacob Krider and Lemuel Bingham [2] as editors. The western counties of North Carolina, more sparsely populated than those in the east, had long needed a newspaper [3]to voice its desire for equal representation in the state legislature [4] and otherwise serve its interests. Salisbury, as the region's largest city, was an ideal location for such a paper. In most antebellum [5]political newspapers, national politics received the majority of the editorial attention, but the Western Carolinian was a leader in the movement to increase coverage of state issues. The obvious determination of western North Carolina-so forcefully confirmed on the pages of the Carolinian-led other editors to take sides on these issues, which included the establishment of a public school system [6] and a public college in the west, internal improvements [7], the convening of a constitutional convention, the need for a state penitentiary, the care of the handicapped, and free suffrage for all white males. Although it changed hands and political affiliations several times, the Western Carolinian remained a strong advocate of the economic growth and political rights of western counties until it ceased publication in 1844.

[8]

Additional Resources:

Search the Western Carolinian at the North Carolina Newspaper Digitization Project: http://www.archives.ncdcr.gov/Newspaper/search.html [9]  (accessed September 6, 2012).

Chaffin, Kathy. "Early Salisbury newspapers among those online." SalisburyPost.com. January 5, 2010.  http://www.salisburypost.com/News/010510-Early-newspaper-archives-online [10] (accessed September 6, 2012).

"State Archives Launches Online Newspaper Collection." Federation Bulletin 30. No. 1. March 2010. p. 4. http://digital.ncdcr.gov/u?/p249901coll22,51633 [11]  (accessed September 6, 2012).

Rumple, Jethro. A History of Rowan County North Carolina Containing Sketches of Prominent Families and Distinguished Men with an Appendix. Salisbury. N. C.: J. J. Bruner. 1881. p.20-22, 323, 330. http://archive.org/stream/historyofrowanco00rump#page/n3/mode/2up [12]  (accessed September 6, 2012).

Image Credits:

"The first issue of the Western Carolinian a newspaper from Salisbury North Carolina, published by Krider and Bingham on Tuesday, June 13, 1820." Image from the State Archives of North Carolina.