--- title: '"Great footrace for the presidential purse ($100,000 and pickings) over the Union Course 1852" (Currier lithograph)' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/great-footrace-presidential-purse-1852/ description: Lithograph in which Daniel Webster, Winfield Scott (in plumed general's uniform) and Franklin Pierce run a footrace for the presidency while a crowd… section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) **Content note:** Speech boxes render Irish and German immigrant speech in caricatured dialect for comic effect. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) [!["Great footrace for the presidential purse ($100,000 and pickings) over the Union Course 1852" (Currier lithograph)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/great-footrace-presidential-purse-1852.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/great-footrace-presidential-purse-1852.jpg) # "Great footrace for the presidential purse ($100,000 and pickings) over the Union Course 1852" (Currier lithograph) Lithograph in which Daniel Webster, Winfield Scott (in plumed general's uniform) and Franklin Pierce run a footrace for the presidency while a crowd comments in speech boxes, some in exaggerated Irish and German dialect. The print takes no side: each runner is mocked in turn, and the tell for name-calling is the nickname 'old Fuss and Feathers' and the jibe 'Ex pounder' standing in for argument. ## Text on the object Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` [Speech box, upper left, in Irish dialect:] Arrah be Jabers ! an is it ould Dannil thats to the fore ! troth I heern o' him, whin I was a boy in the bog in ould Ireland. he'll come out fore nint the whole o' them. [Speech box:] Go it Dan ! put in the big licks. - [Speech box, from the plumed runner in uniform:] Confound Webster ! what does he want to get right in my way for ? if he dont give out, or Pierce dont faint I shall be beaten. [Speech box, from the central runner:] I can beat you both, and walk in at that ; although you had a hundred yards the start of me !! [Speech box, from the third runner:] No ! No ! old Fuss and Feathers, you dont catch this child fainting now. I'm going in to make good time ! whether I win or not, Legs ! do your duty. [Speech box, right, in German dialect:] I schal pack te man mitout te hat! pecause he make te grand letter to Hulseman which make him feel not so goot, till he run ray. - [Speech box:] I'm fraid the Ex pounder is too old for such a severe race . - [Speech box:] Old ! my dear fellow dont you know that it is the Blood that tells ; age dont matter, I'd back old Dan against Lady Suffolk herself. [Speech box:] Scott ought to pass, he's got a long Stride [Speech box:] Yes but Dan picks up quick and gathers well. [Title:] GREAT FOOTRACE FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL PURSE ($100,000 AND PICKINGS) OVER THE UNION COURSE 1852. [Imprint:] For sale at N° 2 Spruce St. N.Y. ``` Speech boxes listed roughly top-left to right. Punctuation spacing follows the print's style. The handwritten 'LC-USZ62-7489' at lower right is a library note, not printed text. Dialect spellings are the printer's. [← "Gas and glory" (Currier lithograph, 1852)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gas-and-glory-pierce-1852/) ["The poor soldier & his ticket for soup" (Yankee Notions lithograph, 1852) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/poor-soldier-ticket-for-soup-scott-1852/) ## Using the same techniques - [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account. - [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking) - [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers. - [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling) - [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling) - [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd. - [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)