The Campaign Age was a Democratic campaign newspaper published on behalf of George B. McClellan who ran against Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 presidential election.

The paper was published in Philadelphia on 13 consecutive Thursdays, beginning on August 18, 1864, two weeks before the Democratic Convention in Chicago nominated McClellan and his running mate George H. Pendleton.  The publisher, Glossbrenner and Welch, also published The Philadelphia Age, a daily and a weekly newspaper.

As a result, The Campaign Age had access to The Philadelphia Age's resources, and carried up-to-date news of the War, obtained from a wide variety of domestic newspaper in the North and South, as well as from London.  It also covered Pennsylvania politics in some detail.

Lincoln was scorned for his policies of "emancipation, confiscation, subjugation and extermination," as well as for "social and political equality for the negro."  The Union Party was referred to as the Abolitionist Party.  Considerable space was spent on explaining and defending McClellan's war record.  The last issue dated Thursday, November 10, also contained a Friday update from The Philadelphia Age, giving election result highlights including Lincoln's triumph in Pennsylvania.  Probably not coincidentally, it was not on the front page.

While the 52 large pages (20 x 29 inches) did report on speeches (as did other campaign newspapers), they contained much better information on the war itself, both current and prior (defending McClellan).  Cartoons were non-existent and humor per se was minimal, but the content is exceptionally interesting overall.

 

 

 

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