Fillmore, Millard Buchanan, James Fremont, John Charles Donelson, Andrew Jackson Breckenridge, John Cabell Dayton, William L Magee, John L
Description
This political cartoon satirizes the Presidential race of 1856, depicting it as a horse race. In the center, James Buchanan, dressed as a jockey, has been unseated from his mount, a buck with the head of his running mate, John C. Breckinridge. The presidential hopeful clutches his shin and curses at a young black man, claiming that if it had not been for the “Slavery Plank” upsetting his buck, he certainly would have won. The youth stands upon two planks of wood labeled “Slavery” and “Cuba,” a reference to a plot by pro-slavery Democrats to annex the island and add it to the Union as a slave state. These boards are themselves supported by a crate marked, “Democratic Platform.” From his elevated platform, the boy mocks Buchanan, reminding the Democrat that he did not want to do away with the plank of slavery. On the left, Millard Fillmore, the American Party candidate, rides a goose with the head of his running mate, Andrew Jackson Donelson. He holds a lantern labeled “Know Nothing,” the nickname for the American Party. Although he is jeered from the sidelines, Fillmore warns the spectators that “if I'm not the next President the Union Will Be Disolved, The South Wont Stand It.” In the lower right corner, a boy hoists a pro-Democratic sign containing the slogans, “We Po'ked em in 44, We Peirce'd em in 52 and We'll "Buck em" in 56.” The child has climbed upon the back of another man, who turns in disgust...
Paper (Overall Material)Ink (Overall Material)
Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
Record Contributed By
National Museum of American HistoryRecord Harvested From
Smithsonian InstitutionKeywords
- American Civil War Prints
- Animals
- Art
- Birds
- Blacks
- Breckenridge, John Cabell
- Buchanan, James
- Children
- Civil War
- Clothing And Dress
- Dayton, William L
- Diplomacy
- Donelson, Andrew Jackson
- Dress Accessories
- Fillmore, Millard
- Fremont, John Charles
- Furnishings
- Horses
- Lighting
- Magee, John L
- Patriotism
- Patriotism And Patriotic Symbols
- Political Caricatures
- Political Parties
- Politics
- Reform Movements
- Slaver
- Slavery
- Social Reformers
- Wild Animals