The Political Rail Splitter

The Political Rail Splitter


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Title: The Political Rail Splitter

Year: 1860

Creator: J. Leach, Lithograph, New York

Description: Republican presidential Abraham Lincoln stands on top of a copy of the Constitution. With a Negro-headed mallet, he prepares to split the Union in half with a wedge titled “Irrepressible Conflict”.
New York Tribune Editor Horace Greeley sprawls on the ground in the background: “I’ll give Bill Seward a taste of his higher law.”
Senator William H. Seward, who once had spoken of an irrepressible conflict, backs backward as he says: “Call you this backing your friend?”