Beschreibung:

LINCOLN, Abraham]. CURRIER & IVES, publishers . "The Rail Candidate," lithographic political cartoon, probably drawn by Louis Maurer New York: Currier & Ives, 1860. 1 page, (13½ x 18 in.), minor spotting, edges a bit browned. THE RAIL-SPLITTER ASTRIDE A HARD RAIL. Another telling satire on the 1860 presidential campaign. Here, Lincoln is shown being carried-- rather uncomfortably--on a split wooden rail, labeled "Republican Platform." Supporting one end of the rail is a black man in simple farm garb; his dialogue box reads: "Dis Nigger strong and willin' but its awful hard work to carry Old Massa Abe on nothing but dis ere rail!!" Holding up the rail's other end is a well-dressed Horace Greeley (a copy of his Tribune tucked in a pocket). Greeley tells Lincoln "We can prove that you have split rails & that will ensure your election to the Presidency." Lincoln observes "It is true I have split Rails, but I begin to feel as if this rail would split me. It's the hardest stick I ever straddled." (See Holzer, Boritt & Neely, The Lincoln Image , fig. 18).