ABSTRACT
Before the war, newspapers functioned primarily for political purposes, with occasional crime stories to attract readers and advertisers. Republican editors believed Democrats might get the blame for violence in Kansas, making stronger the chances for a Republican president from the East in 1860. Abraham Lincoln to Hon. Truman Smith, Springfield, Illinois, November 10, 1860. Lincoln pressed Douglas on the issue at the urging of Joseph Medill, editor of the Chicago Tribune. Lincoln had known that any success in a campaign for president would depend on his delivering an impressive performance at the Cooper Union. The grantees were in turn to supply several hundred thousand dollars for the Republicans—from which Seward's presidential campaign would directly benefit. Improvements in the steam press, diffusion of a telegraphic network, inclusion of graphical art and illustrations, such as portraits, tables, and maps, and the advent of documentary photojournalism made daily events much more immediate.
