An anti-abolitionist parody of republican efforts to play down the antislavery plank in their 1860 platform. Horace greeley, the prominent new york publicist of the party, stands at left reassuring a man identified as "young america. " "i assure you my friend," he says, "that you can safely vote our ticket, for we have no connection with the abolition party, but our platform is composed entirely of rails, split by our candidate. " young america, who represents progressive democrats, points insistently toward the right, where candidate abraham lincoln sits atop a makeshift construction made of rails marked "republican platform," which imprisons an african american man. He tells greeley, "it's no use old fellow! you can't pull that wool over my eyes for i can see 'the nigger' peeping through the rails. " meanwhile, lincoln reflects, "little did i think when i split these rails that they would be the means of elevating me to my present position. " (us library of congress). Date: 1860.
Loading...
