I collect 19th century presidential campaign tokens. The candidates and their supporters issued these pieces before the Celluoid button was invented in 1894 and used extensively starting in 1896. This piece was issued for U.S. Grant either in 1868. The obverse resembles a $20 gold piece. This was one of the ways that campaigners used to draw attention to poltical tokens. This piece had a bright golden color when it was new. This is a shell piece, not a solid token. Thin pieces of medal were emobssed with the image or slogans and then put together. This piece is probably quite scarce. It is not listed in the standard reference, DeWitt / Sullivan.
You see that phrase now and then on 19th century political pieces. This election came while Andrew Johnson was in office. Johnson was a Democract who ran for vice president on Abraham Lincoln's "Union Party" ticket in 1864. Johnson became president after Lincoln was assassinated in mid April 1865. Johnson had a short fuse that often got him in trouble. He supported having a lot of White Confederates get back on the voting roles. Johnson believed that would have been Lincoln's policies if he had lived and was probably right. The trouble was Johnson did not have anything close to Lincoln's political abilities. He could not control his temper. In 1866 Johnson made campaign swing on behalf of Congressional candidates who supported his policies. He got his political head handed to him in the election as the Radical Republicans made big gains. Latter on they impeached him. Both of those events could be called "repudiaiton." Here is a token from Johnson's 1866 "Swing around the circle."
