ABSTRACT
East Tennessee during the secession crisis provides an opportunity to explore the use of modern mass communication theories better to understand the historical relationships between a society and its media. Southern antebellum newspapers are supposed to have exercised a great deal of power during the 1860-1861 secession crisis. The majority of nineteenth century newspaper readers knew their editors and generally thought of them as well informed. If one applies twentieth century agenda-setting theory to 19th-century press influence a more complete understanding may be achieved of the relationship between the antebellum press and its readership. However, when one attempts to analyze the presence of newspapers and county vote totals the comparison is more difficult. The overlay of the 1860 Whig vote over number of newspapers seems, at last, to demonstrate a relationship between newspaper and voting behavior.
