Featured Three major planks from Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 platform on two campaign tokens.

I have a fairly large collection of 1860 and 1864 Lincoln campaign tokens. My favorite pieces for all the candidates are those tokens that have slogans that covered the major issues. Here are a couple tokens that mention three of Lincoln’s talking points.

The first piece has the same obverse as the white metal token I posted a couple of days ago, with Lincoln’s first name printed as “Abram.” The reverse of this piece hits on two issues.




The slogan around the edge, “Free territory for a free people,” refers to the homestead act proposal and Lincoln’s opposition to slavery. The Homestead Act was passed during Lincoln’s first term in 1862. It provided that settlers could gain a clear title to 160 acres of public land after they paid and small fee and maintained continuous residency on it for five years. Slave owners generally opposed this act because it encouraged settlement by farmers who did not own any slaves. Historians have pointed out that Lincoln may have pushed for this legislation because of the problems his father had with getting a clear title to the land where he was living in Kentucky when Lincoln was a child.

The second slogan “Let liberty be national and slavery sectional,” referred to Lincoln’s 1860 position that slavery could continue to exist in the states where it was legal but could not spread to any more states or territories. This was in direct opposition that many slaveholders took, which called for the spread of slavery to new states and territories. It also took a swipe at the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott Decision which made slavery legal anywhere in the United States.




The second piece features the slogan, "Lincoln & Hamlin Freedom and Protection." The "protection" part refers to protective tariffs for American companies. This was position took and inherited from his days as a member of the Whig Party. It was staple for Henry Clay, who was Lincoln's idol during the years that Lincoln was maturing as a public figure. This would continue to be a part of Republican presidential platforms into the 20th century.

Neither of these tokes are overly rare, but they worth more than most political pieces with similar rarity because they are Lincoln pieces.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Imho, interesting read!
Thank you!

 

Really interesting. I enjoy learning things about history that I didn't know before.

 

Neat pieces of campaign advertising; thanks for putting them into the historical context.

 

very interesting an area I know nothing about thanks