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The Great Match at Baltimore, Between The “Illinois” Bantam, “And The Old Cock” of the White House.
New York: Currier & Ives, 152 Nassau St., 1860. Lithograph, 11” x 13.5” plus margins. CONDITION: Good, slight marginal loss to lower-left corner, section at upper right corner torn away and repaired on verso with document repair tape. A rare political cartoon staging the divisive competition of the 1860 Democratic convention as a cock fight. Stephen A. Douglas, whose commitment to popular sovereignty over slavery garnered him the contempt of President James Buchanan and the Southern Democrats, is shown here as the victorious rooster, standing on the chest of incumbent President Buchanan and crowing: “Cock a doodle doo!! I’ve got the best of you. And I can beat the Lincoln Cock; and Old Kentucky too!—” Buchanan laments from the floor: “Oh dear! Oh dear! this is my last kick. I’m a used up old rooster.” Meanwhile, a man releases Breckenridge into the ring, telling Douglas: “Don’t crow too loud my fine fellow, here’s a Ketucky chicken that will worry you a little.” Breckinridge, for his part, says trepidatiously: “I suppose now I’m in the pit that I must tackle the bantam, but I don’t much like the job.” Another man in the background—probably representing the Tammany Hall Democrats of New York—muses: “He wos a werry game old bird, but that ere bantam, wos a leetle too much for him!” Disagreements over the official party stance on slavery prompted dozens of Southern delegates to withdraw from the first Democratic convention held in Charleston, South Carolina in April and May, 1860. A second convention in Baltimore, Maryland the following month nominated Stephen A. Douglas. Accordingly, a splinter party nominated Kentuckian John C. Breckinridge, causing both men to claim the nomination and ultimately easing the path for Lincoln. OCLC records just two examples, at the AAS and the Clements Library. REFERENCES: Reilly 1860-21; Weitenkampf p. 121; Gale no. 2846.
Item #8063
Price: $1,800.00
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