The Oregon Statesman, like its predecessor the Oregon Spectator, was the second newspaper started in the Oregon Territory in Oregon City, with the Statesman's first issue printed on March 28,1851. It was actually not the second newspaper off the press because the Oregonian had beaten it into print by four months with its first volume on December 4, 1850. As quoted by George Turnbull in his book History of Oregon Newspapers; "There was a bit of a race between the Oregonian and Statesman to get going first." There were many problems that delayed the first edition of the Statesman, the biggest of which was the prolonged wait for the printing press to arrive in Oregon City. The press was shipped around the Horn from Chicopee, MA and finally arrived much later than anticipated.
    The weekly Statesman charged 25 cents for single copies and $7.00 for annual subscriptions. Asahel Bush, the first editor, was not happy about being in Oregon City and was therefore willing to move the business interest. In fact, in a letter written three weeks after starting publication he stated: "I get very little patronage in Oregon City." The early Oregon Newspapers were a constant political proving ground and, not unlike today's newspapers, were frequently backed by political groups. As Turnbull stated, "The paper under the skillful editing of the militant young easterner, became the "bible of the Oregon Democracy" and the lusty opponent of the Whigs, Dryer, and the Oregonian in everything on which it was at all possible to take issue." Bush eventually came to head a small, but very successful group of politicians known a few years later as the "Salem clique," which directed things Democrat in Oregon—in those early days that virtually meant all things political—for years. When the capital was moved to Salem, the politically minded Statesman moved with it, in June, 1853. Two years later the legislature met at Corvallis, the newly chosen capital. Bush followed along with the Statesman, explaining that since he was state printer it was necessary to be at the seat of government. When the legislature itself passed a resolution to take the territorial government back to Salem, the Statesman was again put aboard a river steamer (not such a tremendous job in those days) and moved back to Salem, where publication was resumed on December 18, 1855. And there, with the exception of some vicissitudes during the 1860's, it has remained ever since."