Chicago Democrat was the first newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It operated from 1833 until 1861.
History
The Chicago Democrat was founded by John Calhoun, a Jacksonian Democrat who moved from Watertown, New York, to Chicago at the end of 1833. Calhoun had experienced a series of newspaper business failures in New York and was inspired by travelers' stories about Chicago to start the paper. The first issue (Vol. 1, No. 1) was published in 1833.
Publishing on the frontier proved difficult. In May 1835, Calhoun issued a second prospectus apologizing for the paper's near-disappearance over the preceding four months, citing a lack of available paper during the winter of 1834–1835. The paper also faced its first competition around this time from the Chicago American, a Whig-sponsored rival.
In 1836, Calhoun transferred the paper to a syndicate of Democratic politicians, possibly in exchange for his appointment as Cook County Treasurer. The syndicate hired "Long" John Wentworth, who had recently arrived in Chicago with strong Democratic credentials. Wentworth bought the paper outright from the syndicate within a few years.
Under Wentworth's ownership, the Democrat became closely tied to his political ambitions. Wentworth served multiple terms representing Chicago in the United States Congress and also served two terms as mayor of Chicago. Critics accused him of printing more news about himself than about the city.
By the 1850s, the paper's circulation likely declined. Its staff remained small while other newspapers grew, and its printing presses failed to keep pace with competitors such as the Chicago Tribune (founded in 1847). Wentworth himself shifted politically, becoming a member of the new Republican Party by the end of the decade, reflecting the realignments over slavery in the years leading up to the American Civil War.
In 1861, just before the Civil War began, Wentworth closed the Chicago Democrat. He stated that he was tired after his recent mayoral term and unable to continue following the death of his assistant, David Bradley. Others speculated that he did not wish to invest in modernizing the paper or covering the impending war. A more immediate cause was a $250,000 libel lawsuit filed by J. Young Scammon, a prominent Chicago figure, after the Democrat published a cartoon depicting him as a "wildcat" banker. Wentworth gave his subscription list to the Chicago Tribune, whose publishers induced Scammon to drop the lawsuit in return.
Wentworth's personal complete run of the paper was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Surviving issues are held by the Chicago History Museum, Chicago Public Library, and other repositories.
Modern revival
In 2017, Atom, LLC restarted the Chicago Democrat as a website aimed at statewide coverage of news, sports, weather, and information in Illinois.
