Sep 27, 2018 - Sale 2486

Sale 2486 - Lot 112

Price Realized: $ 9,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(PRINTS--CARTOONS.) The Political Rail Splitter. Lithograph, 10 x 15 1/2 inches; minor wear and soiling, a few light scuff marks, laid down on stiff paper. New York: J. Leach, [1860]

Additional Details

Lincoln has chopped down the tree of the Union, and is splitting the trunk between North and South using the wedge of "irrepressible conflict" and an axe featuring the head of an African American, while trampling the Constitution. His allies Horace Greeley and William Seward (author of the "irrepressible conflict" warning) are in the background. Scarcer than most of the Lincoln cartoons; we are aware of only one other at auction since 1912, and OCLC lists copies at only 2 institutions. Weitenkampf, page 123.