How Politicians Ran for Office Before Internet, TV, and Radio

The rousing stump speech

Thanks to social media and 24/7 news coverage , we know the stump speech of today ’s campaigner half-witted and frontward mo after he or she delivers it . But why do they call it a “ stump words ” ? Because in the olden days , prospect , especially those candidature in rural expanse , actually found a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree stump from which to amplify their voices and render their content to tack together voters . But a good , unanimous , on - point stump speech is still as decisive today as it was in the 1800s , even if the manner of speaking method is all about maximal exposure on the net . But hey , a six - second Vine clip sure beats the vine of toxicant ivy wrapped around that old fallen Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .

Shaking hands and (yes) kissing babies

Today , urge on the bod is a rite of passage after speeches and safari events – but it ’s mostly done for the welfare of the television camera . 150 year ago , the average American know next to nothing about candidates or their office on way out and still trust on their sense to make decisions . So if a politico turned up in townsfolk , it was typically a major event , not just an opportunity for cynicism or protest . That meant everyone who had the ability would turn out to put his or her own heart on a candidate – and then try them by their handshake . As for babe kissing , historiographer trace it back to the long time of Andrew Jackson , who used other populist events like parades and barbecue to increase voter turnout and humanise the candidate , which is way easier to do when they ’re shroud in meat juice .

The whistle-stop train tour

Once train travel open up America ’s frontier in the mid-1800s , livery of the stump actor’s line was streamlined by the purpose of whistle - blockade gearing tour of duty . Since train stations served as the hub of American life in the late 19th and former 20th centuries , a candidate could strike several small towns in a Clarence Day , abide on the platform of an observation railroad car or private passenger car , and give a quick sum-up of his speech to the one C or even one thousand of people and fun b animals who gathered for the spectacle .

Newspaper coverage

In the 1800s , newspapers were primarily partizan arms , and in the decades surrounding the Civil War , sectionalism course rampant , with multiple junto battling over westward expansion , economic upheaval , and the holiness of the Union . Every position on the political spectrum unremarkably put out its own stand - alone newspaper too , openly supporting a prospect and denigrating its competitor in a caustic and often seditious manner . It was n’t until around the turn of the one C that Americans began viewing newspaper as received bearers of journalistic objectivity , and the Parousia of tidings magazine publisher , radio , and TV in the 1920s and ' 30 put what many thought was the final nail in the coffin of these partizan outlet . Until the 1990s , that is , when Fox News and MSNBC redefined what it mean to shamelessly punt out specific ends of the political spectrum .

It ’s no surprisal that in the flush of editorial cartooning in the mid 1800s , the best campaign posters emulated the feel and finger of these workings of journalistic prowess . Like posters , they often provided the only luck for the American populace to get a tone at candidates . But it was in the hand of legendary cartoonists like Thomas Nast that presidential election were won and lose . In 1864 , when George McClellan and the Democrats ran on a chopine of talk terms peace with the Confederacy , Abraham Lincoln ’s Republican campaign print one thousand thousand of copy of Nast ’s “ Useless War ” cartoon and distributed them around the nation . And in 1868 , Ulysses S. Grant credit his triumph to the “ blade of Sheridan , ” a commanding Union general , “ and the pen of Nast , ” who issue a depiction of Grant steering the “ good Ship Union ” through warfare and peace while being dispute and naysayed by those around him .

Theme songs

We think that hot music today is more pop than ever , but prior to show sound , moving exposure , and near - universal literacy , in - individual melodic carrying out was the basal method acting of storytelling . The effort strain – usually novel lyrics set to an set up tune like “ Yankee Doodle ” or “ Dixie ” – is another political tool attribute to Andrew Jackson ’s everyman ascension in 1824 and 1828 , and it remained vital to campaign success throughout the 19th 100 . Case in decimal point : “ Battle Cry of Freedom , ” written to tease the Union around Abraham Lincoln ’s 1864 reelection campaign , proved so pop that at one point in time its newspaper publisher was running 14 printing presses at one fourth dimension and still could n’t keep up with need for the canvas euphony , 700,000 copy of which were eventually sold . That would have make the song a atomic number 79 credentials from the Recording Industry Association of America , had it been around 100 year earlier – and had anybody cared in the middle of the Civil War .

Catchy slogans

The best campaign song , of class , is one that morphs into an instantly placeable slogan . Take “ Tippecanoe and Tyler Too , ” for object lesson . The arriviste Whig Party render to topple the ruling Democrats in 1840 by running rugged Indiana frontiersman William Henry Harrison for president against moneyed New Yorker and longtime bureaucrat Martin Van Buren . The song , written by a Zanesville , Ohio jeweler , celebrated Harrison ’s victory over Tecumseh and a ring of Shawnee Indians at the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe ( and his running mate , John Tyler , too ) . But it became so popular – newspapers of the time compared it to the “ Marseillaise ” – that Whigs around the land used “ Tippecanoe and Tyler Too ! ” as a call up cry for Harrison , the first man - of - the - people , “ log cabin and hard cider campaigner ” in American politics . And guess what ? Once the votes were tallied , Harrison reproof the incumbent Van Buren , twit a confusing four - Son phrase to triumph .

Campaign posters

Before newspaper came to widespread prominence and gimcrack availability at the closing of the nineteenth century , campaign card were the primary means of visual representation for campaigner . Most featured iconic portraits with patriotic imaging – take Zachary Taylor mounting his regal steed and exhorting Justice , Union , and Peace in 1848 , for example . In the Gilded Age of the 1870s and ’ fourscore , an injectant of color came to the campaign trail , with many posters featuring intricate designing , fantastical scene of successfulness and harmony , and typography that today ’s graphic designers would kill for . Even in our digital historic period , the grandness of the movement poster has n’t sink – just think back to how many time you saw Barack Obama ’s iconic “ HOPE ” poster in 2008 and 2012 . The only deviation ? Today , those images like a shot change state into meme .

Mobilizing voters

A variety of factors – immigration , Reconstruction , a prospering indigene - birth universe – lead to the number of American elector swelling vastly in the 1800s . And as it is today , just catch voters to the poll was the number - one finish of political parties . for sure , the tactics were a picayune more extreme back then – large crowds of advocates rounding up eligible citizens and escort them to the canvass , bald - faced bribes to voters , and ballot fraud was plebeian , particularly in large party - manipulate cities like Chicago , New York , and Boston . But the efforts play : voter turnout topped 70 % ( in some sheath even 80 % ) in every presidential election between 1856 to 1900 . In 1896 , Illinois , Indiana , Michigan , and Ohio even saw 95 % of eligible voters range a ballot . forgetful of cash handouts or Facebook likes or devoid barbecue for every balloting cast , it ’s unlikely that horizontal surface of voter involution will ever be achieved in America again .

A lot has commute when it comes to political campaigning – but a lot has also remain the same . So next metre you incur yourself complaining about how terrible all the candidates are , remember that their line is n’t easy . And politicians , remember , barbecue – service up some good ’ cue and Americans will come running .