Honest Abe Taking Them on the Half Shell
(Currier and Ives, 1860. Courtesy of the Library of Congress)
In this pro-Republican satire, Lincoln ponders the miniature Douglas (left) and Breckinridge (right), who he holds on two shells. "These fellows have been planted so long in Washington they are as fat as butter. I hardly know which to swallow first." An obvious reference to the number of years his opponents each spent in Washington before Lincoln's arrival. Douglas, a moderate Democrat, reclines on a soft shell, while Breckinridge, adamantly pro-slavery, is on a hard shell.
This cartoon was most likely printed following the election of 1860 when Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate, defeated Stephen Douglas, John Bell and John C. Breckinridge.
Douglas was nominated by the Democratic party at their convention in Baltimore on June 18. However, Doulgas's failure to take a hard stance in defense of slavery in the territories caused a splinter in the party forcing more than 100 "fire-eating" Southern Democrats to walk out. Breckinridge represented the splintered Democratic party and was nominated in Richmond, Virginia on June 28th, 1860.
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