'The People's Line -- Take care of the Locomotive', Whig woodcut, 1840
Hand-coloured woodcut: Van Buren's 'Uncle Sam's Cab' overturns on a heap labelled 'CLAY' in the path of a locomotive made of a hard-cider barrel, a log cabin and Harrison's head. The tell is the oncoming engine titled 'The People's Line', presenting Harrison's momentum as the public's own.
- Date
- 1840
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Whig campaign print, probably Huestis & Co. and Robert Elton, New York (per LOC; imprint lists 104 Nassau and 18 Division Streets)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Van Buren Administration
- Leader
- Martin van Buren
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Event
- 1840 US Election
- Techniques
- Bandwagon
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain: published 1840, US; LOC: "No known restrictions on publication."
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-15770. LOC rights: "No known restrictions on publication."
Text on the object
UNCLE SAM'S CAB CLAY HARD CIDER The People's Line--Take care of the Locomotive Sold at 104 Nassau, and 18 Division Streets, New-York.
Read from the 6004 x 4739 px LOC master. The figure in the cab is identified as Van Buren by the LOC description, not by a printed name.
