THE POLITICAL "SIAMESE" TWINS. THE OFFSPRING OF CHICAGO MISCEGENATION.
New York: Currier & Ives, 152 Nassau Street, 1864. Lithograph broadside, 13-1/2" x 17-3/4," on white wove paper. Mild edge toning, Very Good plus.
"The unlikely teaming of military leader George B. McClellan with Peace Democrat (Copperhead) George Hunt Pendleton as presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 1864 election is ridiculed here. The artist charges McClellan with disloyalty to his former troops by virtue of a 'peace at any price' campaign" [Reilly]. Like the Circus performers Chang and Eng, Barnum's famous Siamese Twins, the two are inextricably bound together.
Calling the Democrats' team, which was birthed at the Chicago Convention, "the offspring of Chicago Miscegenation" is a slap at the Democratic ticket for its constant hammering that the Republicans' emancipation policy will "mongrelize" the purportedly superior white race.
Firmly attached by "The Party Tie" to Pendleton, McClellan apologizes to the two Union soldiers on his left, "It was not that I did it fellow Soldiers!! but with this unfortunate attachment I was politically born at Chicago." The soldiers, one with his arm in a sling, rebuke McClellan for tying himself "to a peace Copperhead, who says that Treason and Rebellion ought to triumph." Copperheads Clement Vallandigham and Horatio Seymour encourage Pendleton.
Reilly 1864-19. Gale 5232. Weitenkampf page 144. OCLC 191120100 [2- Peabody-Essex, Clements], 950902713 [1- AAS], as of July 2023. Item #38245
Price: $2,500.00