In Mobile, commercial affairs were given the precedence over politics. The first paper published here, the Mobile Gazette, was established in 1816 by a Mr. Cotton.

In 1821, Mr. John Battelle, having established the Montgomery Republican in the same year, formed a partnership with Mr. J. W. Townsend and founded the Mobile Commercial Register. John Battelle was a native of Boston and a member of the Alabama Company which helped to found the town of Montgomery.

The Register supported Crawford for the Presidency, and in 1822 It bought out the Gazette, a move which its enemies attributed to political motives. Its principal interest was in commercial affairs, and it opposed the establishment of a State Bank upon the plan advocated by Pickens.

In 1822, the Mobile Argus was founded by Charles A. Henry, but the following year the firm of Nicholas and Henry succeeded to the ownership and changed the name to the Mercantile Advertiser.  This paper supported Adams for the Presidency, but, like practically all the others of that faith, it claimed "to do justice to all."