 A dedicated supporter of the pro-slavery Democratic Party, Smith's publication was largely devoted to fierce partisan polemics with the editor of the rival Republican publication, the "Oregon Statesman," published by the indefatigable Asahel Bush in the nearby city of Salem.Founding publisher Smith died in November 1860, on the eve of the American Civil War.The "Oregon Democrat" was carried forward by a new publisher, Pat Malone, but the Confederate-sympathizing weekly ran into trouble with the Republican keepers of the postal system and on April 30, 1862, the paper was banned from the US Mail for its political line.