---
title: '"The undecided political prize fight" (anonymous, 1860)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/breckinridge-undecided-political-prize-fight-1860/
description: Cartoon of Douglas and Lincoln as boxers in a ring before the White House.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Ethnic and racial caricature: an Irish second for Douglas and a kneeling Black man as Lincoln's second, in a pro-Breckinridge satire, shown as published. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[!["The undecided political prize fight" (anonymous, 1860)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/breckinridge-undecided-political-prize-fight-1860.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/breckinridge-undecided-political-prize-fight-1860.jpg)

# "The undecided political prize fight" (anonymous, 1860)

Cartoon of Douglas and Lincoln as boxers in a ring before the White House. Douglas has an Irish second; Lincoln has a kneeling Black man with a basket of bottles as his second. LOC's summary describes Breckinridge in the background thumbing his nose and being cheered toward the house by men doffing hats; at this 640-px size those details cannot be confirmed from the image. Tells: transfer of stigma by pairing each rival with a caricatured group (an Irish second, a kneeling Black second); bandwagon in the cheering crowd behind the third candidate, on LOC's description.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
THE UNDECIDED POLITICAL PRIZE FIGHT.
[lettering on the White House frieze, illegible at this resolution]
```

Only the title is legible at the 640 px resolution available.

[← Proof for a flag campaign banner for John C. Breckinridge and Joseph Lane (H. C. Howard, 1860)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/breckinridge-lane-flag-banner-proof-howard-1860/) [Flag campaign banner for Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson (H. C. Howard, 1860) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/douglas-johnson-flag-banner-proof-howard-1860/)

## Using the same techniques

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- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
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- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)