Collage of historical images and cartoons of the American Civil War

Visual Culture of the American Civil WarA Special Feature of Picturing US History

Your plan and mine.

The stakes of the 1864 presidential election are starkly depicted in this pro-Republican Currier & Ives print. On the left, Democratic candidate George McClellan, in the spirit of his party’s platform (which in actuality he did not endorse), extends an olive branch to a ragged and unrepentant Jefferson Davis while returning a black Union soldier to slavery. In contrast, on the right, Abraham Lincoln forcefully subdues the Confederate president, cheered on by an armed and stalwart black soldier—a rare depiction in a cartoon up to that time.The stakes of the 1864 presidential election are starkly depicted in this pro-Republican Currier & Ives print. On the left, Democratic candidate George McClellan, in the spirit of his party’s platform (which in actuality he did not endorse), extends an olive branch to a ragged and unrepentant Jefferson Davis while returning a black Union soldier to slavery. In contrast, on the right, Abraham Lincoln forcefully subdues the Confederate president, cheered on by an armed and stalwart black soldier—a rare depiction in a cartoon up to that time.

Source: Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Publisher: New York: Currier & Ives

Date: 1864