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The Electric Telegraph, News Coverage, and Political Participation

Tianyi Wang

The Journal of Economic History2025https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022050725000026article
AJG 3ABDC A*
Weight
0.44

Abstract

This paper uses newly digitized data on the growth of the telegraph network in America during 1840–1852 to study the impacts of the electric telegraph on national elections. Exploiting the expansion of the telegraph network in a difference-in-difference approach, I find that access to telegraphed news from Washington significantly increased voter turnout in national elections. Newspapers facilitated the dissemination of national news to local areas. Text analysis on historical newspapers shows that the improved access to news from Washington led local newspapers to cover more national political news, including coverage of Congress, the presidency, and sectional divisions involving slavery.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022050725000026

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@article{tianyi2025,
  title        = {{The Electric Telegraph, News Coverage, and Political Participation}},
  author       = {Tianyi Wang},
  journal      = {The Journal of Economic History},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022050725000026},
}

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The Electric Telegraph, News Coverage, and Political Participation

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Evidence weight

0.44

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.32 × 0.4 = 0.13
M · momentum0.57 × 0.15 = 0.09
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.