NOW AND THEN, OR HOW TO MEET AN OLD FRIEND WITH A NEW FACE.
New York: Peter Smith [Currier & Ives], 1848. Folio lithograph broadside, oblong 14" x 19." Copyright information in manuscript at blank lower margin. Mounted to a thin board [chip at top right corner of board], light dusting. Very Good.
Though little known today, Cass was a leader of the Democratic Party for thirty years, its 1848 presidential candidate, and the author of the Popular Sovereignty Doctrine, later taken up by Stephen A. Douglas. Cass's resume was impressive indeed: Veteran of the War of 1812, Governor of the Michigan Territory, U.S. Senator from Michigan, Secretary of War, Secretary of State, Ambassador to France.
Ironically, he would lose the 1848 election to a political cypher, the Whig Zachary Taylor. Cass's long public career opened a pandora's box of opportunities to skewer him, as in this rare broadside. As Minister to France in 1837-1838, Cass is depicted bowing obsequiously to Louis Phillipe, King of France. Genuflecting to Royals was, of course, frowned upon in America's democratic society. To make matters worse, Cass displays the universally-despised trait of hypocrisy when, King Louis having been deposed in 1848, Cass shuns him.
Weitenkampf 98. Not in Reilly. OCLC 1136575034 [1- AAS] as of November 2022. Item #38926
Price: $2,500.00