“In February, 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln traveled from Springfield to Washington, visiting his supporters and finding his voice on his way to taking the oath of office on March 4.”

Read more about Lincoln’s trip to Washington.

The media played an incredibly important role in driving the country toward secession. This was an era of a communications revolution. It was a moment of new technologies like the telegraph, the advent of cheap, mass printing and a huge proliferation of newspapers, not just weekly ones but daily newspapers in many, many cities in both parts of the country.

When someone in Charleston said something, the people in Massachusetts heard it and vice versa. Both sides were appalled by the degree of vehemence in the rhetoric that was being said in each section against the other. I think it had an incredible polarizing effect. The way that an editor or a politician wins a reputation is to say things that are completely outrageous that will be quoted all around the country.

Source: Adam Goodheart, historian and author of the book 1861, to be released in 2011.