When the Springfield Leader launched in 1867, it demanded less: fewer laws, reduced taxes, and lower tariffs. Its opening editorial claimed that the “laws of a republic should be few and simple” and that high tariffs only benefited the manufacturers in the northeast while “sapping the hearts-blood out of the people of producing states.” This Democratic paper challenged opposing Springfield journals to a lively rivalry, claiming that they would not be deterred by “ ‘quibbles quick or paper bullets of the brain.’ ”
Digital issues are available from April 4, 1876 to May 16, 1878. Additional years of this newspaper are available for research on microfilm from through 1895.
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Springfield Leader, 1867-1878 