--- title: '"Position of the Democratic Party in 1852" (anti-Pierce, anti-Fugitive-Slave-Law print)' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/position-democratic-party-1852/ description: Print in which Pierce lies face-down on the 'Baltimore Platform' before a whip-bearing 'Slave holder & Peace maker' while a devil cheers and Haynau, Cass… section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) **Content note:** The platform label contains a racial slur ('nigger catching'); the antislavery print also shows a devil, a slaveholder with a whip and shackles. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) [!["Position of the Democratic Party in 1852" (anti-Pierce, anti-Fugitive-Slave-Law print)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/position-democratic-party-1852.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/position-democratic-party-1852.jpg) # "Position of the Democratic Party in 1852" (anti-Pierce, anti-Fugitive-Slave-Law print) Print in which Pierce lies face-down on the 'Baltimore Platform' before a whip-bearing 'Slave holder & Peace maker' while a devil cheers and Haynau, Cass and Douglas look on; the Spirit of Jefferson cries 'Ye degenerate Sons!' The tell is the stacking of stigma symbols (devil, skull and crossbones, whip) onto the Democratic platform, and the label 'slaveocratic' in place of 'Democratic'. ## Text on the object Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` [Cloud above, Spirit of Jefferson:] Spirit of Jefferson. Ye degenerate Sons ! [Speech box, Slave holder:] "Save the Union. And with the meanest Yankee grease Smear the hinges of your knees And in Silence pray for peace." [Label under the slaveholder:] Slave holder & Peace maker. [Speech box, Devil:] " Well done my faithful servants ! [Speech box, Pierce:] " I accept this Cheerfully. [Speech box, Haynau:] " I feel quite at home in this company give me your hand my good fellow. [Speech box, Cass:] " We are down Douglass. Pierce has bid lower than either of us. [Speech box, Douglas:] " There is nothing impossible for a New Hampshire Hunker Democrat to do in that line. [Text on the platform:] Fugitive Slave Law and nigger catching, and resist agitation on the Slavery question. & Southern pine. Baltimore Platform 1852. [Diagonal on the ground:] Mason & Dixon's line. [Other labels:] [illegible: small text at left beginning "On Pierce's ..." and ending "attempt to revival"] Gen Spurs Pierce. one of the Southern dirt eaters saving the Union. Haynau. Cass. Douglas. the slaveocratic miscalled the Democratic party. how they obey the crack of the Slaveholder's Whip! [Imprint:] Sold by Bela Marsh No 25 Cornhill Boston Mass. [Title:] Position of the Democratic Party in 1852. "Freemen of America, how long will you be ledd by such leaders !" [Copyright line, very small:] Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by William K. Leach, in the Clerk's office of the District of Massachusetts. [partly legible] ``` Read from a 640 px derivative of a hand-lettered print; some small lines are only partly legible. 'ledd' and 'Douglass' (in Cass's speech) are the print's spellings. The skull-and-crossbones, manacles and serpent are pictorial, with no text. The two-line label at far left is too small to read beyond the fragments shown. [← "The poor soldier & his ticket for soup" (Yankee Notions lithograph, 1852)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/poor-soldier-ticket-for-soup-scott-1852/) ["Soliciting a vote" (1852 campaign cartoon, drawn before the Democratic nomination) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/soliciting-a-vote-webster-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)