"The Times and Democrat" traces its history to the October 1881 merger of "The Orangeburg Democrat" and "The Orangeburg Times". It also has ties to four other newspapers born in the aftermath of the American Civil War: "The Southron", "The Tax-Payer", "The Edisto Clarion" and "The Orangeburg News and Times". Like most newspapers of the South during Reconstruction, the Orangeburg publications were embroiled in political doctrines. The "Orangeburg News", for instance, was organized as a newspaper of the Democrats but later made the bold move of becoming a newspaper of the Republicans.