--- title: 'Presidential campaign posters: US banners and prints, 1840 to 1900' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/presidential-campaign-posters/ description: 'Presidential campaign posters from 1840 to 1900: Whig, Democratic, Republican and third-party banners and prints, with who issued each one.' section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a dossier collage of an evidence wall of pinned propaganda posters, leaflets and printed matter from many eras, with contact sheets and catalog labels.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-collection.jpg) Collection # Presidential campaign posters: US banners and prints, 1840 to 1900 Presidential campaign posters from 1840 to 1900: Whig, Democratic, Republican and third-party banners and prints, with who issued each one. 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. Presidential campaign posters [!['Federal-Abolition-Whig Trap, to Catch Voters In', New Orleans broadside, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/anti-whig-log-cabin-trap-broadside-new-orleans-1840-640.jpg)'Federal-Abolition-Whig Trap, to Catch Voters In', New Orleans broadside, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anti-whig-log-cabin-trap-broadside-new-orleans-1840/) [![Grand Democratic Free Soil Banner (Currier, Van Buren and Adams), 1848](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/van-buren-adams-free-soil-banner-1848-640.jpg)Grand Democratic Free Soil Banner (Currier, Van Buren and Adams), 1848](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-buren-adams-free-soil-banner-1848/) [![Campaign flag banner, "For President Abram Lincoln. For Vice President Hannibal Hamlin" (H. C. Howard, 1860)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/lincoln-hamlin-flag-banner-howard-1860-640.jpg)Campaign flag banner, "For President Abram Lincoln. For Vice President Hannibal Hamlin" (H. C. Howard, 1860)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lincoln-hamlin-flag-banner-howard-1860/) [![The working-man's banner. For President, Ulysses S. Grant, 'The Galena Tanner.' For Vice-President, Henry Wilson, 'The Natick Shoemaker.'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/working-mans-banner-grant-1872-640.jpg)The working-man's banner. For President, Ulysses S. Grant, 'The Galena Tanner.' For Vice-President, Henry Wilson, 'The Natick Shoemaker.'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/working-mans-banner-grant-1872/) [![Principles of the Prohibition party](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/principles-of-the-prohibition-party-1888-640.jpg)Principles of the Prohibition party](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/principles-of-the-prohibition-party-1888/) [![Ring Again the Liberty Bell in 1900 (Bryan poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ring-liberty-bell-1900-640.jpg)Ring Again the Liberty Bell in 1900 (Bryan poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ring-liberty-bell-1900/) > **Content note.** One 1864 print here, hostile to the Democratic ticket, contains a racial slur and an ethnic caricature. It is shown as issued, with the other prints. Showing an item is not endorsing it. [What are presidential campaign posters?](https://propagandaarchive.org/presidential-campaign-posters/#what-are-presidential-campaign-posters) [Banners and portraits, 1840 to 1860](https://propagandaarchive.org/presidential-campaign-posters/#banners-and-portraits-1840-to-1860) [Charts, platforms and attack prints, 1864 to 1892](https://propagandaarchive.org/presidential-campaign-posters/#charts-platforms-and-attack-prints-1864-to-1892) [1896 and 1900](https://propagandaarchive.org/presidential-campaign-posters/#1896-and-1900) [Balance of the holdings](https://propagandaarchive.org/presidential-campaign-posters/#balance-of-the-holdings) [What the collection does not hold](https://propagandaarchive.org/presidential-campaign-posters/#what-the-collection-does-not-hold) ## What are presidential campaign posters? Presidential campaign posters are the banners, broadsides, charts and lithographs that parties and printers sold or displayed to promote a ticket. In this collection they run from the "Log Cabin" campaign of 1840 to the McKinley and Bryan contest of 1900. Most were made by commercial lithographers, not by the candidates, and nearly all are held by the Library of Congress with no known restrictions on publication. ![Hand-coloured Currier lithograph of a draped Whig banner with oval portraits of Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen under an eagle](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/onward-clay-frelinghuysen-whig-banner-1844.jpg) ## Banners and portraits, 1840 to 1860 The 1844 banners show how both sides worked. Nathaniel Currier printed a Whig banner for Henry Clay with the line "The Nation's Choice" ([Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/)), and a near-identical Democratic banner for James K. Polk, whose slogan "Polk, the Young Hickory" borrows Andrew Jackson's nickname ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)). The [Polk sheet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/press-onward-polk-dallas-banner-1844.jpg) is in the grid. In 1840 the Whig "Log Cabin" campaign drew a [hand-coloured woodcut](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/peoples-line-take-care-of-the-locomotive-1840.jpg) of Harrison as an unstoppable locomotive, and a New Orleans broadside of unnamed origin attacked the same campaign with loaded words such as "ruffle-shirt, silk-stocking GENTRY" ([Loaded language](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/loaded-language/)). ![1860 campaign banner printed as a 33-star American flag with a bust of Abraham Lincoln in the blue canton](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/lincoln-hamlin-flag-banner-howard-1860.jpg) Explain moreShow less Third parties printed banners too: the 1848 Free Soil ticket of Van Buren and Adams used "Free Soil.-Free Labor.-Free Speech." as its message ([Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)). In 1860 the Philadelphia printer H. C. Howard made flag banners for Lincoln, for Bell, and a proof for Breckinridge. The national flag carries one party's ticket in each ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)). ![Currier and Ives banner for McClellan and Pendleton under the words Peace, Union and victory](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/grand-national-democratic-banner-1864.jpg) ## Charts, platforms and attack prints, 1864 to 1892 Currier & Ives made the 1864 Democratic banner for McClellan and a near-identical one for Lincoln. A separate Currier & Ives print, [The Chicago platform and candidate](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/chicago-platform-candidate-1864.jpg), attacks McClellan as two-faced on a platform held up by a devil and Jefferson Davis ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)). ![Lithograph broadside headed Our Nation's Choice with portraits of Blaine and Logan, the Republican platform and an electoral map](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/our-nations-choice-blaine-logan-1884.jpg) Explain moreShow less In 1872 a Currier & Ives banner showed Grant as "The Galena Tanner" and Henry Wilson as "The Natick Shoemaker", while a [Greeley print](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/merinsky-greeley-banner-1872.jpg) set Greeley on the peace side and Grant's war record among cannon fire. The 1876 charts from H. H. Lloyd, one [Republican](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/national-republican-chart-1876.jpg) and one [Democratic](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/national-democratic-chart-1876.jpg), put platform text and biographies around the portraits. Smaller parties appear in 1884, 1888 and 1892: Butler's [People's Party portrait](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/butler-peoples-party-1884.jpg), a [Prohibition party print](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/principles-of-the-prohibition-party-1888.jpg) that sets "Our desire" against "Present situation" ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)), and Weaver's [People's Party lithograph](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/weaver-field-peoples-party-1892.jpg). Cleveland's 1888 ticket got a [Tariff Reform lithograph](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/tariff-reform-cleveland-thurman-1888.jpg). ## 1896 and 1900 ![1900 McKinley poster pairing 1896 Poverty Depression with 1900 Prosperity](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mckinley-was-right-poster-1900.jpg) The 1900 sheets pair two years as cause and effect: the McKinley poster sets "1896 Poverty Depression" against "1900 Prosperity". The pro-Bryan [Liberty Bell poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ring-liberty-bell-1900.jpg) puts his portrait inside a cracked bell, and an 1896 [San Francisco broadside](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/bryan-sewall-unlimited-coinage-broadside-1896.jpg) names the Democratic ticket beside a coin. ## Balance of the holdings The grid covers Whig, Democratic, Republican, Free Soil, Constitutional Union, People's, Prohibition and Liberal Republican items. Both major parties are represented in most election years from 1844 to 1900. The record is lopsided in era and source: it is almost all 1840 to 1900, and mostly from one library. ## What the collection does not hold - **Not here:** campaign posters from 1904 to 2024, apart from the 1900 sheets. The collection has a 1964 television advertisement but no 20th-century street posters. - **Not here:** the many surviving 19th-century cloth and paper banners held outside the Library of Congress. - **Not here:** posters for the elections of 1789 to 1836, apart from a few ticket slips and handbills. Sources and further reading ## Sources Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, American political prints and campaign banners. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, American political prints and campaign banners. Reilly, *American Political Prints 1766-1876*. Each item in the grid carries its own source and rights note. ## US presidential campaign posters in the collection Showing 25 of 25 objects. [Filter the whole collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/). - ['Federal-Abolition-Whig Trap, to Catch Voters In', New Orleans broadside, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anti-whig-log-cabin-trap-broadside-new-orleans-1840/) (United States · 1840 · Name-calling) - ['The People's Line -- Take care of the Locomotive', Whig woodcut, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/peoples-line-take-care-of-the-locomotive-1840/) (United States · 1840 · Bandwagon) - [Grand National Whig Banner. "Onward" (Clay and Frelinghuysen), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/onward-clay-frelinghuysen-whig-banner-1844/) (United States · Apr 1844 · Bandwagon, Glittering generalities) - [Grand National Democratic Banner. Press Onward (Polk and Dallas), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/press-onward-polk-dallas-banner-1844/) (United States · Jun 1844 · Transfer, Bandwagon) - [Grand Democratic Free Soil Banner (Currier, Van Buren and Adams), 1848](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-buren-adams-free-soil-banner-1848/) (United States · Sep 1, 1848 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - ["The Champions of Freedom" Frémont and Dayton banner (Buffalo, 1856)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/fremont-dayton-champions-of-freedom-1856/) (United States · 1856 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [James Buchanan campaign banner (Baker & Godwin, 1856)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/buchanan-democratic-banner-1856/) (United States · Jun 1856 · Transfer) - [Campaign flag banner, "For President John Bell. For Vice President Edward Everett" (H. C. Howard, 1860)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bell-everett-flag-banner-howard-1860/) (United States · 1860 · Transfer) - [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/) (United States · 1860 · Transfer) - [Campaign flag banner, "For President Abram Lincoln. For Vice President Hannibal Hamlin" (H. C. Howard, 1860)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lincoln-hamlin-flag-banner-howard-1860/) (United States · 1860 · Transfer) - [Grand National Democratic banner. Peace! Union! and victory!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/grand-national-democratic-banner-1864/) (United States · 1864 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [Grand national union banner for 1864. Liberty, union and victory](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/grand-national-union-banner-1864/) (United States · 1864 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [The Chicago platform and candidate](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chicago-platform-candidate-1864/) (United States · Oct 1864 · Name-calling, Transfer). Content note: 1864 anti-McClellan print with a racial slur and an Irish caricature. - [For president Horace Greeley of New York and for vice president Benjn. Gratz Brown of Missouri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/merinsky-greeley-banner-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [The working-man's banner. For President, Ulysses S. Grant, 'The Galena Tanner.' For Vice-President, Henry Wilson, 'The Natick Shoemaker.'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/working-mans-banner-grant-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Plain folks, Transfer) - [National Democratic chart, 1876](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/national-democratic-chart-1876/) (United States · 1876 · Transfer, Card stacking) - [National Republican chart 1876](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/national-republican-chart-1876/) (United States · 1876 · Transfer, Card stacking) - [Gen. Benj. F. Butler: candidate of the Peoples Party, for president of the United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/butler-peoples-party-1884/) (United States · 1884 · Glittering generalities) - [Our nation's choice, James G. Blaine, John A. Logan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/our-nations-choice-blaine-logan-1884/) (United States · 1884 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Principles of the Prohibition party](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/principles-of-the-prohibition-party-1888/) (United States · Sep 11, 1888 · Card stacking, Fear appeal) - [Tariff reform. Cleveland and Thurman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tariff-reform-cleveland-thurman-1888/) (United States · Sep 17, 1888 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [People's party candidates for president and vice president 1892](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/weaver-field-peoples-party-1892/) (United States · 1892 · Glittering generalities, Plain folks) - [Democratic nominees Bryan and Sewall broadside](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bryan-sewall-unlimited-coinage-broadside-1896/) (United States · 1896 · Transfer) - [McKinley Was Right (poster: 1896 poverty, 1900 prosperity)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mckinley-was-right-poster-1900/) (United States · 1900 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities) - [Ring Again the Liberty Bell in 1900 (Bryan poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ring-liberty-bell-1900/) (United States · 1900 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) ## Related guides and pages - [American propaganda posters: US examples by technique](https://propagandaarchive.org/american-propaganda-posters/) - [Uncle Sam posters: the I Want You poster and what else he was used for](https://propagandaarchive.org/american-propaganda-posters/uncle-sam-poster/) - [Women's suffrage posters and cartoons, 1880 to 1923](https://propagandaarchive.org/womens-suffrage-posters/) - [WPA posters: New Deal and wartime posters, 1936 to 1943](https://propagandaarchive.org/wpa-posters/) - [Civil War propaganda: 1860 and 1864 election prints](https://propagandaarchive.org/civil-war-propaganda/) - [Spanish-American War propaganda: yellow press, Maine and cartoons](https://propagandaarchive.org/spanish-american-war-propaganda/) - [Victory garden posters: WWI war gardens, WWII victory gardens, Dig for Victory](https://propagandaarchive.org/victory-garden-posters/) - [Red Cross posters: WW1 and WW2 fundraising, nursing and blood donor appeals](https://propagandaarchive.org/red-cross-posters/) - [Christmas propaganda posters: war bonds, Santa and mail-early appeals](https://propagandaarchive.org/christmas-propaganda-posters/) - [Space race propaganda: Sputnik cartoons and US space posters, 1957 to 1969](https://propagandaarchive.org/space-race-propaganda/) - [All guides](https://propagandaarchive.org/guides/)