A candidate at that time did not have to harangue crowds, much less represent values or have their own narrative. The electoral campaigns moved across the country on the famous electoral trains aimed at gathering the "yes" or "no" of local potentates. Before Lincolnīefore Lincoln, presidential elections had always been the prerogative of local notables, with few people and little organization. But the Lincoln presidency also changed the very functioning of politics. This presidency has certainly marked the history of the country in many areas: the secession of the states of the South and the consequent civil war, the industrial transformation of the country that started with the North-East, the XIII amendment, a milestone of civil rights. If US politics as we know it - made up of advertising spots, complex campaign strategies and armies of staffers - were to find a year of birth, we would most likely point to 1860 and the electoral campaign that led to Abraham Lincoln's victory.
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