"Taking the Stump" or Stephen in Search of his Mother

1860

Not on view

This political cartoon comments on the candidates running for president of the United State in 1860. Stephen Douglas, representing the Northern Democratic party, staggers on a wooden leg while the sitting president James Buchanan offers another wooden leg to his vice-president, John C. Breckinridge--the latter was backed by the Southern Democratic party. Beside them, the Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln leans against a fence and says, "Go it ye cripples! Wooden legs are cheap but stumping won't save you." At left, John Bell, the candidate of the Constitutional Union Party, stands talking with Henry Wise, Governor of Virginia.

Artwork Details

Title: "Taking the Stump" or Stephen in Search of his Mother
Artist: Probably after Louis Maurer (American (born Germany), Biebrich 1832–1932 New York)
Publisher: Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907)
Sitter: Stephen Arnold Douglas (American, 1813–1861)
Sitter: James Buchanan, Jr. (American, 1791–1868)
Sitter: John C. Breckinridge (American, 1821–1875)
Sitter: Abraham Lincoln (American, Hardin County, Kentucky 1809–1865 Washington, D.C.)
Sitter: John Bell (American, Mill Creek, Tennessee 1796–1869 Dover, Tennessee)
Sitter: Henry Alexander Wise (American, Accomac, Virginia 1806–1876 Richmond, Virginia)
Date: 1860
Medium: Lithograph
Dimensions: Image: 9 1/4 in. × 16 in. (23.5 × 40.7 cm)
Sheet: 13 1/2 × 17 15/16 in. (34.3 × 45.5 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of A. S. Colgate, 1952
Object Number: 52.632.181
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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