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Photo, Print, Drawing Shooting the Christmas turkey

[ digital file from b&w film copy neg. ]

About this Item

Title

  • Shooting the Christmas turkey

Summary

  • While Democratic and Whig candidates debate strategies to win the presidency, or "shoot the Christmas turkey," Free Soil candidate Martin Van Buren makes off with the bird. At left Democrat Lewis Cass (facing front) and Whig Zachary Taylor (facing left), both in military uniform and holding rifles, quarrel about the turkey which is chained to a stake in the center. Taylor: "I tell you, Cass, that I prefer coming to close quarters. It will be as fair for you as for me." Cass: "But I prefer long shots. It will give more chance for the exercise of skill & ingenuity." Taylor running mate Millard Fillmore enters from the left and sighting Van Buren exclaims, "Blood and thunder! I thought that infernal fox was dead: but he has come out of his hole and carried off the prize, while we have been disputing about the preliminaries!" On the far right, Van Buren, as a fox, grasps the turkey by the neck as David Wilmot cheers, "Huzza! Huzza! Victory! Victory!" Wilmot holds up the famous and controversial Wilmot Proviso of 1846, which forbade slavery in territories acquired by the United States in the Mexican War. The measure, embraced by Van Buren but sidestepped by Cass and Taylor, was a burning issue in the 1848 campaign. On the ground in the center of the scene sits New York editor Horace Greeley with a tally sheet marked "Taylor" and "Cass" nearby. Greeley thumbs his nose at Taylor and Cass and says, "Well, Gentlemen, my place has become a sinecure. I need not keep tally for you now." An ardent and powerful Whig spokesman in the 1844 election, Greeley withheld his support for Taylor until late in the 1848 campaign. By that time his New York "Tribune" had become an established and successful newspaper.

Names

  • Baillie, James S., active 1838-1855.

Created / Published

  • N.Y. : Pubd. by James Baillie, 1848.

Headings

  • -  Cass, Lewis,--1782-1866
  • -  Fillmore, Millard,--1800-1874
  • -  Greeley, Horace,--1811-1872
  • -  Taylor, Zachary,--1784-1850
  • -  Van Buren, Martin,--1782-1862
  • -  Wilmot, David,--1814-1868
  • -  Free Soil Party (U.S.)--1840-1850
  • -  Wilmot proviso--1840-1850
  • -  Presidential elections--United States--1840-1850

Headings

  • Lithographs--1840-1850.
  • Political cartoons--1840-1850.

Genre

  • Lithographs--1840-1850
  • Political cartoons--1840-1850

Notes

  • -  Entered . . . 1848 by J. Baillie.
  • -  Pubd. by James Baillie, 87th St. near 3d. Avenue, N.Y.
  • -  Title appears as it is written on the item.
  • -  Weitenkampf, p. 94.
  • -  Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)
  • -  Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1848-53.

Medium

  • 1 print : lithograph on wove paper ; 28.6 x 38.9 cm. (image)

Call Number/Physical Location

  • PC/US - 1848.B157, no. 40 (B size) [P&P]

Source Collection

  • American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Repository

Digital Id

  • cph 3b10318 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b10318

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2008661512

Reproduction Number

  • LC-USZ62-62677 (b&w film copy neg.)

Rights Advisory

  • No known restrictions on publication.

Online Format

  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

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  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
  • Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-62677 (b&w film copy neg.)
  • Call Number: PC/US - 1848.B157, no. 40 (B size) [P&P]
  • Access Advisory: ---

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Baillie, James S., Active. Shooting the Christmas turkey. United States, 1848. N.Y.: Pubd. by James Baillie. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661512/.

APA citation style:

Baillie, J. S. (1848) Shooting the Christmas turkey. United States, 1848. N.Y.: Pubd. by James Baillie. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661512/.

MLA citation style:

Baillie, James S., Active. Shooting the Christmas turkey. N.Y.: Pubd. by James Baillie. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2008661512/>.