A picture is worth 1000 words.

The election of 1800 pulled the United States in both two and four directions, with the North and the South having their own polical race for the presidency. In the North the two candidates were Abraham Lincoln (Republican) and Stephen Arnold Douglas (Democrat) and in the South the two candidates were John Bell (Constitutional Union) and John Cabell Breckinridge (Southern Democrat).

This political cartoon entitled Dividing the National Map (author unknown) depicts all four candidates (from left to right: Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge, and John Bell) vying for presidential control of the United States. This political cartoon was printed in Cincinnati, Ohio, a boarder state, which was in the Union. Eventually, the state of Ohio voted for Abraham Lincoln with 23 electoral votes. John Bell, standing on the ladder, is attempting to glue the country back together. The cartoon puts heavy emphasis on John Bell repairing the nation with a popular glue brand during the 1800’s, Spalding’s. John Bell was briefly secretary of war under William Henry Harrison until Harrison’s death and then resigned due to political tension within the Whig party. However, from 1846 to 1859 Bell was a Senator for Tennessee. John Bell opposed the expansion of slavery to the territories even though he was a slaveholder himself. I think that the addition of the popular glue brand signifies the fate of the United States rests in the hands of the American people. Being a Southern candidate, especially trying to gain support from the boarder states, I think that John Bell was trying to hold the country together while also supporting slavery. He was trying to garner support from the most vulnerable states who could either be pulled towards the North or the South. He originally opposed the secession of the Southern United States, however eventually ended up supporting the Confederacy. Basically, Bell was trying to pose himself as a popular candidate to the southerners that didn’t want to fracture the United States of America into the North and the South.

Photos and cartoons provide universal access to garner opinions on polical issues. This political cartoon allows a glimpse into the political campaigning of the 1860 election. However, today’s day and age we still have political cartoons. These political cartoons allow for expression of personal viewpoints. Even today political cartoons allow for expression of speech while also leaving some room for viewer interpretation. A similar political cartoon, posted in the Philadelphia Inquierer, was from the 2020 presidential election cycle but instead of a map of the United States it was the United States flag with Donald Trump tearing it apart and Joe Biden sewing it back together. The 2020 political cartoon and the 1860 cartoon express similar sentiments (although in 1860 it is four candidates and in 2020 it was two candidates) regarding tearing the country apart and then one candidate bringing it back together.