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Newspaper Independent Statesman (Concord, N.H.) 1871-1924

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About Independent Statesman (Concord, N.H.) 1871-1924

For a century between 1823 and 1924, the New Hampshire Statesman held a prominent role in New Hampshire politics from its seat in the state capital of Concord. Primarily a Whig paper, and later a Republican one, the weekly was founded by a New Hampshire-born printer named Luther Roby (1801-1883). Upon his arrival in 1822, Roby’s prospectus generated some stir in Concord, and even before its first issue, Issac Hill, the notorious editor of the rival New-Hampshire Patriot & State Gazette began attacking Roby’s Statesman. Roby responded in kind, employing early editorials to oppose the Patriot’s slate of candidates. In his February 24, 1823, issue, Roby described Hill as venomous and malign, a man “who vainly fancies himself to be the sole guardian genius of our liberties.”

In its first years of publication, the New Hampshire Statesman experienced a flurry of transfers and name changes. Less than six months after founding the paper, Roby transferred ownership to Amos Parker (1792-1893) in June of 1823, though he continued printing issues through the end of 1824. Parker, a lawyer, and later politician and poet, edited the Statesman for several years, then sold it in the fall of 1825 to abolitionist George Kimball (1787-1858). The paper was merged with Kimball’s Concord Register to form the New-Hampshire Statesman and Concord Register. A month later, Thomas G. Wells purchased a share, uniting the paper with his Unitarian Amherst Herald, of Amherst, NH. In early 1826, just months after acquiring the paper, Wells sold his shares to Asa McFarland (1804-1879), a young Concord native. That same year, the federalist New-Hampshire Journal began printing in Concord under Jacob B. Moore (1797-1853). Moore had apprenticed with Isaac Hill of the New-Hampshire Patriot, but they parted ways in 1823 after political differences. Soon, facing declining subscriber numbers, Moore’s Journal merged with the Statesman to form the New-Hampshire Statesman and State Journal in 1831.

Although frequently changing hands in the early years, the Statesman maintained its political heading throughout the antebellum period. Editorials were unsparing in their condemnation of southern Democrats, with one on December 26, 1831, decrying them as a “pestilential congregation of vipers,” and asserting that they were prepared to risk the union “for the furtherance of their selfish and sectional interests.” The editors of the Statesman generally held slavery to be immoral, but also viewed it as counter to Northern business interests; the paper tended to favor gradual emancipation over sudden abolition. By the 1850s, however, with the return of Asa McFarland as owner and publisher, the Statesman had taken a more radical tone, openly declaring in an October 1850 editorial that the Fugitive Slave Law was unconstitutional. On May 31, 1856, McFarland described the caning of Senator Charles Sumner (1811-1874) as an attack on “the people of the free states, which the waters of the Potomac are not sufficiently copious to wash away,” and writing on July, 13 1866, he castigated New Hampshire Democrats for their part in stoking the recently concluded war, stating “great was their offense, and sore must be the process of expiation.”

By 1868, with the retirement of Asa McFarland, the Statesman had changed titles to the Republican Statesman, and in 1871, the paper merged with the Independent Democrat to form the Independent Statesman. Republican William Eaton Chandler (1835-1917) initiated the merger to heal rifts within his party—and to control his rival George Gilman Fogg (1813-1881), editor of the Concord Daily Monitor. Chandler, and later his son, had a controlling stake in both papers for nearly thirty years, with the Statesman running as a weekly counterpart to the Monitor. Chandler sold a share of the papers to his protege George H. Moses (1869-1944) in 1898, who served as editor throughout the early twentieth century. In 1923, following the departure of Moses, James Langley (1894-1968) consolidated all three of Concord’s remaining newspapers under one roof: the Monitor, the New-Hampshire Patriot, and the Statesman. Langley discontinued the Statesman the following year, ending its hundred years of publication.

Provided By: Dartmouth College

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Independent Statesman (Concord, N.H.) 1871-1924

Dates of Publication

  • 1871-1924

Created / Published

  • Concord, N.H. : Republican Press Association, 1871-1924.

Headings

  • -  Concord (N.H.)--Newspapers
  • -  Merrimack County (N.H.)--Newspapers
  • -  New Hampshire--Concord
  • -  New Hampshire--Merrimack County
  • -  United States--New Hampshire--Merrimack--Concord

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly, July 6, 1920-Feb. 25, 1924
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Oct. 6, 1871)-v. 56, no. 22 (Feb. 25, 1924).
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from the Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service.
  • -  Daily eds.: Concord daily monitor (Concord, N.H. : 1864), and: Concord evening monitor, and: Concord daily monitor and New Hampshire patriot.

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper
  • AN

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn84022957

OCLC Number

  • 10681792

ISSN Number

  • 2576-0467

Preceding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Independent Statesman Concord, N.H. -1924. (Concord, NH), Jan. 1 1871. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn84022957/.

APA citation style:

(1871, January 1) Independent Statesman Concord, N.H. -1924. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn84022957/.

MLA citation style:

Independent Statesman Concord, N.H. -1924. (Concord, NH) 1 Jan. 1871. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn84022957/.