During his tenure as a state respective he acquired his fathers Free Will Baptist newspaper, "The Morning Star". He used the newspaper as a medium for him to print his speeches in the legislature and to write articles supporting abolitionism. His assumption of the newspaper drew attention of a past acquaintance, Frederick Douglass. Cheney asserted in his first printing as owner: We shall speak against slavery, as we have hitherto done. We can find no language that has the power to express the hatred we have towards so vile and so wicked an institution-We hate it-we abhor, we lather it-wedetest it and despise it as a giant sin against God. His later career in the Maine House of Representatives, secured $2,000 for his academy in Lebanon, regulated liquor traffic, and advocated for temperance. He left his academy shortly after founding it in strong financial conduction and under the care of the local community.