[Currier & Ives]: [Election of 1864]:

$2,500 · Offered by William Reese Company

THE POLITICAL "SIAMESE TWINS" THE OFFSPRING OF CHICAGO MISCEGENATION [caption title]. A rare Currier and Ives political print from the 1864 presidential election, likening the unusual marriage of McClellan and his running mate, Copperhead leader George Pendleton, to the famous "Siamese twins," Chang and Eng Bunker. Chang and Eng first came to the United States in 1829, where their great popularity as a touring act gave birth to the phrase "Siamese twins" as a term for conjoined twins. After years of touring in Europe and America, the pair settled down in North Carolina for over a decade before returning to the stage in the 1860s. Their renewed popularity and enduring cultural relevance are both evidenced by this election-year cartoon."In the center McClellan (left) is attached to the side of his running mate by 'The Party Tie.' McClellan says apologetically to the two Union soldiers at his left, 'It was not I that did it fellow Soldiers!! but with this unfortunate attachment I was politically born at Chicago!' The Democratic national convention took place in Chicago on August 29, 1864. The soldier with his arm in a sling responds angrily, 'Good bye little Mac' if thats your company! Uncle Abe gets my vote.' The soldier at far left says, 'I would vote for you General, if you were not tied to a "peace" Copperhead, who says that Treason and Rebellion ought to triumph!!' Pendleton addresses the two 'Copperheads' at his right: Clement Laird Vallandigham, author of the Democrats' p

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