In the way of a general view of political conditions in the period from the creation of county offices by the Legislature of the Territory on January 19, 1859, through the period of war, it may be said that the prevailing sentiment was at first strongly democratic. The majority of the settlers in Old Oregon, from which had come a large proportion of the earlier comers to Walla Walla, were from Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, with quite a sprinkling from Tennessee and Kentucky and democratic views preponderated in the sections from which the majority came. With that strange inconsistency which has made American political history a chaos for the philosopher and historian, that early democratic element here and elsewhere was in general bitterly opposed to "abolitionists and black republicans." While a great majority of them did not favor slavery and to a considerable extent had left slave states to get rid of it, yet they were mortally afraid of "nigger equality." When the war broke out there was a considerable element that were carried so far by their hatred of abolitionists that they even became rank "Secesh." That, however, was a temporary sentiment. The feeling of union and the preservation of an undivided nation gradually asserted itself, and by the time the war was half through democrats as well as republicans stood firmly on the platform of the maintenance of the Union. One of the best expressions of that sentiment is found in the resolutions of the democratic convention on May 23, 1863, reported in the Statesman of the 30th. We had these expressions: "That the democracy are unalterably attached to the union of these states." "That the right of secession is not reserved to the States." "That the Federal Government has a right to maintain the constitution and enforce the laws, if need be, by force of arms, and so far as the acts of the present administration tend to these desirable ends, it has our cordial support and no further." Then as an offset, the fourth resolution declares: "That the democracy of Washington Territory view the declared intention of such men as Horace Greeley and Charles Sumner—who desire the prosecution of the present civil war for the abolition of slavery, and who utterly scout the idea of any peace which is not founded on the condition that the social fabric of the insurgent states is to be totally uprooted—with abhorrence."
A good evidence of this is the inability of men brought up with certain views and prejudices to grasp the logic of events. Then as since, "there are none so blind as those that won't see." That sentiment was also well shown in the continuance of the campaign of 1863, in which Geo. E. Cole of Walla Walla was democratic candidate for Territorial Delegate. An editorial in the Statesman of June 5, 1863, commends Mr. Cole as a Union man and a democrat. In the same issue appears the resolutions of the Clarke County Democratic Convention which had been adopted in substance by the territorial convention which nominated Mr. Cole, and to which the democrats of Walla Walla pledged themselves at a ratification meeting on July 11th. As showing the stamp of thought prevailing at that time in the party, it is of interest to read these resolutions:
"Resolved, That the democracy (of Clarke County) are for the Union, and the whole Union, and in favor of the vigorous prosecution of the efforts of the Government in crushing the present unholy and wicked rebellion, when such efforts are not actuated by any other motives than a single desire to maintain the honor and dignity of the nation and enforcement of the laws. That we are opposed to the conclusion of any peace involving in its terms the acknowledgment of the so-called Southern Confederacy, and that we hereby pledge ourselves, come weal or woe, in life and death, now and forever, to stand by and defend the flag of our country in its hour of peril."
It is indeed one of the most significant evolutions in American history; that of the gradual passing over from a support of slavery by the larger part of the democratic party to a stage where they no longer supported that "sum of all villainies" and yet had a profound hatred of "abolitionists," to the point where they perceived that the maintenance of the Union was the great essential, whether slavery was lost or saved, and yet further to the point, which many reached, of an unflinching support of Abraham Lincoln in his abolition as well as Union policies. It is all an exhibition of the evolution of nationalism, to which free labor is essential. And in that evolution, the West has borne the larger part. The sentiment of state pride, the local prejudices and narrow vision common in the older states and which in the South became intertwined with slavery and produced economic and political deformity and arrested development, was shuffled off when people of East and North and South and Europe all joined to lay the foundations of genuine American states in new regions unhampered and undistorted by caste and prejudice. This state of affairs in the West prepared the way for a new democracy, a national democracy, a genuine democracy for all men. The transformation of Walla Walla politics was simply a sample of a movement taking place all over the country. As a result, during the decades of the sixties and seventies, many former democrats, notably some who had been brought up in Missouri and other slave states, finding the democratic party, as they thought, still a laggard on progressive issues developed by the war and reconstruction, left the party and joined the republicans. Doubtless the Statesman may be taken as a good exponent of the prevailing democratic views in Walla Walla. It was strong for the Union, but was horribly afraid of "abolitionists." When W. H. Newell acquired the paper in November, 1865, he adopted the policy of supporting President Johnson against Congress. The republican party steadily gained, and in subsequent decades Walla Walla County, as all other parts of the states of Washington and Oregon, became overwhelmingly republican. By the progress of the same evolution, progressive politics have had a powerful hold upon the people of these states, as well as of the entire Pacific Coast, and the support given to democratic candidates, state and national, in 1916, is a thoroughly logical development. The people have been consistent, though party names have not.
One of the interesting facts not generally realized is that Walla Walla County in the sixties contained so large a part of the population of the territory. In the Statesman of December 30, 1864, we find a report from Edwin Eells, enrolling officer of the county, in which it appears that the draft enrollment in Walla Walla County was 1,133, while in the entire territory it was 4,143.
A few figures at various times in the sixties will be found of interest.
The vote for Territorial Delegate in 1863 by counties was as follows, as given in the Statesman of August 22:
A few figures at various times in the sixties will be found of interest. In the county election of June, 1864, we find the following vote by precincts:
| Precinct | Democratic | Republican | ||||
| Walla Walla | 287 | 149 | ||||
| Lower Touchet | 11 | 33 | ||||
| Upper Touchet | 41 | 49 | ||||
| Snake River | 2 | 7 | ||||
| Wallula | 1 | 12 | ||||
| Pataha | 2 | 10 | ||||
| —— | —— | |||||
| Total | 344 | 260 | ||||