The grandiosity behind the American presidential campaign.

The founding of the United States is rooted in the right of people to choose their own leaders. Efforts to influence votes through emotion, money and cruel and protracted struggles are also American.

After several years, decades or even hundreds of years, the essence of these battles can often be seen from their short-lived signs. Slogans and campaign buttons not only support true believers, but also aim to induce reluctant people to join. These items can hint at campaign strategy and temperament of the times. They provide snapshots of possible objects, which may have a very short shelf life because they are full of confidence in victory.

These stories are best kept in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The museum's political campaign collection is the largest collection of presidential campaign materials in the United States, including banners, slogans, campaign short stories, novelty items, documents, photos, voter registration materials, ballots and voting machines.

The museum's collection includes cultural relics that show personal support for a particular politician, reflecting the pride of many Americans in their elected presidential candidate. The exhibits in the museum include a ribbon with tickets for Harding Wilson 1920 printed on it, which is also to celebrate the newly adopted amendment to Article 19, giving women the right to vote. In an election campaign of 1860, a wooden axe was used to support abraham lincoln, a "railway separatist", and it assured the audience of "good luck". This is a banner from the 1800 election. It is one of the oldest existing textiles with a partisan image, praising Thomas Jefferson's victory and gloating that "john adams is gone."

Other cultural relics are also physical records of major election events: the infamous "chads" on the ballot in Broward County was crucial to determining the outcome of the 2000 presidential election.

There are also some objects, such as a color book on ecology produced by McGovern's campaign team in 1972, which shows different ways of reaching out to voters in political campaigns.

Megan smith is an interpreter at the National Museum of American History. He wrote this article for Sokalo Public Square.