Feb 04, 2016 - Sale 2404

Sale 2404 - Lot 104

Price Realized: $ 1,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
DISPLAY COPY OF A SCARCE ANTI-LINCOLN PRINT (CIVIL WAR.) Baker, Joseph E.; artist. How Free Ballot is Protected! Lithograph, 12 x 15 1/4 inches; 2 short closed tears in margins, lacking a bit of the upper corners, mount remnants on verso, large inked notation on recto: "For sale here, Price 15 cents each"; early pencil inscription on verso "Bought from the N.Y. World Nov. 16 66"; erased inked stamp on verso. [Boston, 1864]
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Additional Details

This print implies that the 1864 election was rigged in favor of Lincoln against McClellan. A maimed Union soldier is shown attempting to cast his vote for McClellan, but is prevented by a caricatured African-American who is guarding the ballot box with a bayonet, shouting "You cant put in dat you copperhead traitor, nor any oder 'cept for Massa Lincoln!!" The soldier
replies, "I am an American citizen and did not think I had fought and bled for this. Alas my country!" Two election workers in the background debate whether the soldier should be allowed to vote. This insinuation seems entirely unsubstantiated; Lincoln won the military vote by a large margin, and we are aware of no reports that these votes were coerced. Reilly 1864-35. 4 copies in OCLC, and none known at auction.