About

Marmaduke J. Slade, former part owner and editor of the Georgia Messenger, published the first issue of the Macon Advertiser and Agricultural and Mercantile Intelligencer on April 19, 1831 in Macon, Georgia. The paper’s prospectus, which Slade began circulating in January 1831, established the publication as an advocate of State’s Rights and the Troup Party. Before the Georgia Messenger greatly enlarged in November 1831, the Advertiser boasted the largest sheet size in the state of Georgia. Slade published the newspaper on a semi-weekly cycle at a subscription cost of five dollars per year. After a brief pause in circulation in late October, the newspaper reemerged with a shortened title, the Macon Advertiser, on November 8, 1832. Around the time of this title alteration, Slade began making arrangements to purchase new printing materials for a move to Milledgeville, Georgia, the state’s capital at the time. This relocation was motivated by his ambitions to be the official job printer for the Georgia Legislature. On January 15, 1833, after moving to the capital, Slade published the first issue of the Times and State’s Right Advocate in Milledgeville, and, despite past statements to the contrary, announced the discontinuation of the Macon Advertiser.