Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley

Gallery of Illustrations

Abraham Lincoln, Congressman-Elect from Illinois, Library of Congress. Created in Springfield, Illinois, in either 1846 or 1847, this daguerreotype is the earliest known photograph of Abraham Lincoln, taken at age thirty-seven, when he was a frontier lawyer in Springfield and congressman -elect from Illinois. The photo is attributed to Nicholas H. Shepherd of Springfield, according to the recollections of Gibson W. Harris, a law student in Lincoln’s office from 1845 to 1847. Robert Lincoln, son of the president, thought it was made in either St. Louis or Washington during his father’s term in Congress. Horace Greeley, Library of Congress. A photographer affiliated with Mathew Brady’s studios took this daguerreotype of Horace Greeley sometime between 1844 and 1860, according to the Library of Congress’s archives. Because later photos of Greeley show him with a neck beard, this image of him sitting with a newspaper folded on his lap was most likely taken in the 1840s, shortly after he launched the New York Tribune. Log Cabin Built by President Lincoln in Kentucky, from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, vol. 20, July 8, 1865, p. 256, Library of Congress . The popular newspaper, among the few of the era to contain illustrations, published this rendition of the slain president’s boyhood home within months of his death. Although the Lincoln family left Kentucky when Abraham was a boy, the imagery of the frontier had become so indelibly connected to his legacy that the artist here presumed young Abraham had actually built the log cabin himself. Log Cabin, May 2, 1840, courtesy of the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University. The front page from this issue of Horace Greeley’s Log Cabin includes a portrait of William Henry Harrison and columns that promote his presidential campaign. It represents the typical layout of content in Greeley’s famous publication, which included illustrations of Harrison’s exploits in battle, songs from his campaign , and lively editorials that promoted “Old Tippecanoe” forpresident. “Editorial Staff of the New York Tribune,” Library of Congress. Seated (left to right) are George M. Snow, financial editor; Bayard Taylor, renowned literary critic; Horace Greeley; and George Ripley, literary editor. Standing (left to right) are William Henry Fry, music editor; Charles A. Dana, who became Greeley’s managing editor; and Henry J. Raymond, former assistant to Greeley. Taken sometime between 1844 and 1860, according to Library of Congress archivists, the photo is remarkable inasmuch as it shows Raymond, who left the Tribune in 1841 and later became Greeley’s rival as editor of the New York Times, together with Greeley. Et Tu, Greeley?, Vanity Fair, June 2, 1860, courtesy of Special Collections/Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In May 1860, delegates at the Republican National Convention abandoned front-runner William H. Seward and chose Abraham Lincoln as their presidential nominee. In this cartoon, Vanity Fair compares the turn of events to Julius Caesar’s assassination in the Roman Senate (likely relying on Shakespeare’s interpretation ). Seward, as Caesar, lies dying on the floor, having been stabbed by New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley (Brutus). The artist depicts New York Times editor Henry Raymond as Mark Antony and Francis Blair Sr., editor of the Congressional Record, as Casca. Lincoln is portrayed as a small black man. (“Black Republican” was a derogatory term used to associate the party with abolitionism.) The Slaughter of Seward, from the Campaign Plain Dealer, July 7, 1860, the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum. Chicago was known for its stockyards and slaughterhouses , and this cartoon from a Cleveland newspaper that supported Stephen A. Douglas used the analogy of a cattle slaughterhouse for the Republican National Convention in Chicago. Presidential nominee Abraham Lincoln prepares to knock out the party’s brains, represented by William H. Seward, the front-runner whom Lincoln defeated. The editors of three leading New York newspapers are (left to right) James Watson Webb of the New York Courier and Enquirer, Thurlow Weed of the Albany Evening Journal, and Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune. Weed provided significant support for Seward, as evidenced by his shock in the cartoon, while Webb covers his eyes, too frightened to watch. “Just what you deserve ,” says the satisfied Greeley, who...