Fanatics and Fire-eaters: Newspapers and the Coming of the Civil WarUniversity of Illinois Press, 2010 M10 1 - 160 pages In the troubled years leading up to the Civil War, newspapers in the North and South presented the arguments for and against slavery, debated the right to secede, and in general denounced opposing viewpoints with imagination and vigor. At the same time, new technologies like railroads and the telegraph lent the debates an immediacy that both enflamed emotions and brought the slavery issue into every home. Lorman A. Ratner and Dwight L. Teeter Jr. look at the power of America's fast-growing media to influence perception and the course of events prior to the Civil War. Drawing on newspaper accounts from across the United States, the authors look at how the media covered—and the public reacted to—major events like the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, and the election of 1860. They find not only North-South disputes about the institution of slavery but differing visions of the republic itself—and which region was the true heir to the legacy of the American Revolution. |
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... of the first half of the nineteenth century. By 1850, however, newspapers—thanks to rapid population growth and urbanization, to revolutions in printing and transportation and to a growing reliance on the “magnetic telegraph”—could deliver.
... telegraph”—could deliver news and commentary quickly. The first chapter of this book is devoted to outlining some historical developments that changed the press into a mass medium and the changes that resulted in how newspapers reported ...
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Contents
1 The Emergence of a Democratic Press | 7 |
The BrooksSumner Incident | 34 |
3 The Dred Scott Decision and a Society of Laws | 49 |
Does the Majority Rule? | 60 |
Violence in a Republican Society | 71 |
Could a Republican Lead the Republic? | 85 |
A Republic at War with Itself | 102 |
The Shattered Republic | 117 |
NOTES | 121 |
INDEX | 133 |
back cover | 143 |
Other editions - View all
Fanatics and Fire-eaters: Newspapers and the Coming of the Civil War Lorman A. Ratner,Dwight L. Teeter Jr. No preview available - 2004 |
Fanatics and Fire-eaters: Newspapers and the Coming of the Civil War Lorman A. Ratner,Dwight L. Teeter Jr. No preview available - 2004 |