The National Game. Three "Outs" and One "Run" – Abraham Winning the Ball

1860

Not on view

This pro-Lincoln satire was published shortly before the 1860 presidential election and casts the political contest as a baseball game. Lincoln stands on home base and has defeated John Bell, Stephen A. Douglas, and John C. Breckinridge, from left to right. Holding a wooden rail for a bat labeled "Equal Rights and Free Territory, he says "Gentlemen, if any of you should ever take a hand in another match at this game, remember that you must have a good bat and strike a fair ball to make a clean score and a home run." His belt is inscribed "Wide Awake Club." A skunk near the other candidates causes Breckinridge, a Southern Democrat, to hold his nose and says "I guess I'd better leave for Kentucky, for I smell something strong around here, and begin to think, that we are completely skunk'd." His bat is labeled "Slavery Extension" and his belt "Disunion Club." At far left John Bell of the Constitutional Union party observes, "It appears to me very singular that we three should strike foul and be put out while old Abe made such a good lick." Bell's belt says "Union Club," and his bat "Fusion." Regular Democratic nominee Douglas replies, "That's because he had that confounded rail, to strike with, I thought our fusion would be a short stop to his career." He grasps a bat labeled "Non Intervention."

Artwork Details

Title: The National Game. Three "Outs" and One "Run" – Abraham Winning the Ball
Artist: Probably after Louis Maurer (American (born Germany), Biebrich 1832–1932 New York)
Publisher: Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907)
Sitter: John Bell (American, Mill Creek, Tennessee 1796–1869 Dover, Tennessee)
Sitter: John C. Breckinridge (American, 1821–1875)
Sitter: Stephen Arnold Douglas (American, 1813–1861)
Sitter: Abraham Lincoln (American, Hardin County, Kentucky 1809–1865 Washington, D.C.)
Date: 1860
Medium: Lithograph
Dimensions: Image: 10 in. × 13 11/16 in. (25.4 × 34.7 cm)
Sheet: 13 1/2 × 18 1/16 in. (34.3 × 45.8 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of A. S. Colgate, 1952
Object Number: 52.632.183
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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