As the state grew in both territory and population in the nineteenth century, so too did its journalistic landscape. Nineteenth-century newspapers took on more partisan leanings than their early predecessors, reflecting the politically divided environment of antebellum Georgia. However, the state’s growth came at the expense of native populations. The adversity faced by Georgia’s Cherokee people, in particular, was reported in the first Native American newspaper in the country, the Cherokee Phoenix. Enslaved Georgians were also victims of the state’s growth in the antebellum period. Their stories were most prominently told in advertisements that sought the return of fugitives from slavery. The onset of the Civil War (1861-65) in 1861 brought disruption to both Georgia and its newspaper industry, but despite the turmoil of war, print journalism continued throughout the state and provided citizens with coverage of the conflict, often in unorthodox ways.

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