In 1860, Illinois lawyer Abraham Lincoln let the six-year-old Republican Party in a successful presidential campaign against John Bell of the Constitutional Union party and the two presidential candidates of a divided Democratic Party: Northern Democrat Stephen A. Douglas and Southern Democrat John H. Breckinridge. The temper of the times was exceptionally volatile, Sectional differences, centering on the sanctity of the Union and issues surrounding the South's "peculiar institution" of slavery, had erupted into violence several times in the preceding decade.

Many Northerners resented the power of Southern politicians and their now-familiar threat to dismember the Union: many Southerners resented the North's growing economic power and what they perceived as Northern crassness and anti-Southern bias. The candidacy of Abraham Lincoln, who was running on a platform that opposed allowing slavery into new territories, raised Southern tempers and anxieties to a new level and fueled secessionist fires throughout the South.

Caption by Margaret Wagner, Publishing Office, Library of Congress

This is one of many designs of campaign banners used by Lincoln supporters to get their man elected. Of particular note is that when the Republican National Convention nominated Lincoln and Hamlin, neither one attended the convention nor had they ever met face-to-face.

In the 1860 presidential campaign, brightly colored banners, outrageous political cartoons, sentimental sheet music covers, and patriotic portraits were printed to win the vote. The Library of Congress has a rich collection of graphic political ephemera, covering the history of its use in America.

Medium : 1 print on fabric : lithographic, color

Created/Published : H. C. Howard, Philadelphia, 1860

Creator : H.C. Howard

Housed in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress

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Product #: cph3g02569