Chicago Democrat

The Chicago Democrat was the first newspaper in Chicago, Illinois. It was published from 1833 to 1861.

Publisher John Calhoun was a Jacksonian Democrat, lured west at the end of 1833 from Watertown, New York to start the Democrat inspired by traveler's stories about Chicago after a series of newspaper business failures in his home state of New York. Printing paid better than newspaper publishing, but the paper was valuable to the new community both to boost the town and bring more people to it and to forward the affairs of its avowed political party.

Publishing a newspaper on the frontier was challenging. In May 1835 Calhoun issued a second prospectus that apologized for the paper's virtual disappearance over the previous four months and promised a new editor would upgrade the quality of news when the Democrat re-appeared. He cited a lack of available paper on which to print during the winter of 1834-1835. He did not cite, but presumably was responding to, the appearance of his first competition, the Chicago's American (sponsored by a rival political party, the Whigs).

In 1836 Calhoun handed the paper over to a syndicate of Democratic politicians, perhaps in return for the party position to which he was appointed, Cook County Treasurer. The syndicate meanwhile hired "Long" John Wentworth, newly arrived in the city with solid Democratic credentials. Wentworth bought the paper outright from this syndicate within a few years.

Wentworth's rivals were probably at least partially correct when they accused him of printing more news about himself than the city. This strategy appears to have been successful, since Wentworth represented Chicago in the United States Congress on and off throughout this period, and also served as mayor of Chicago twice.

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