This 1843 print features the leading Democratic and Whig candidates for that year’s presidential nomination. The candidates are depicted as riding animals. Long known as the Sly Fox of Kinderhook, former Vice President, Martin Van Buren is mounted on a fox. He lost the nomination to William Henry Harrison, but was eager to reenter the presidential race as the Democratic nominee. He is right behind fellow Democrat, John C. Calhoun, but Van Buren desires to beat him: “Confound Calhoun! He is right in my way! I’ll take a short cut though the path is crooked and rather dirty. I don’t care so that I get in.” Above Van Buren is Calhoun, mounted on a turtle and stuck in a “clay bank,” no longer able to rely on his “nullification turtle” to get him votes. Calhoun had worked closely with Clay on the nullification crisis years earlier, but that bipartisan cooperation came back to hurt him as he sought the Democratic ticket. While Calhoun is blocking Van Buren in one direction, and James Polk, riding a donkey, is blocking him in the other direction. Polk is standing above Liberty Party candidate and abolitionist James Gillespie Birney, who is admitting defeat, with Polk saying, “I’am [sic] an Old Soldier, but I shall never get in unless I can turn this Donkey’s head the right way!” Polk ran on the promise of fulfilling Manifest Destiny, the idea that the United States had a commitment to expanding and settling the entire country. At the top of the path closest to the White House, is prominent Whig, Kentucky Senator, Henry Clay. He casually leans back on his half alligator, half horse creature, saying, “Hurrah! Old Kentuck will distance them all yet, and then the views of the lamented Harrison will be carried out in full, and treachery will meet its reward.” Clay deeply disliked the late President Harrison after a personal dispute, and felt similarly about President John Tyler, who took over following Harrison’s death in office. Tyler was a Whig in name only, and went against party ideals. Depicted inside the White House, at the top left of the print, John Tyler is woken by his son, Robert Tyler. President Tyler is not concerned by his chances for reelection even though his party abandoned him, saying, “no matter, I’m the people’s favorite and belong to no Party. They will reelect me! If they don’t I’ll veto the whole concern d—n me!” In the background of the print are three men: Commodore Charles Stewart on a sailboat, General Winfield Scott on horseback, and Massachusetts Senator, Daniel Webster cooking chowder in a pot over an open fire. All three men express that they have no interest in entering this presidential race, though all of them had previously run or ran in elections following. At the end of the nomination process voters were left with the choice between James K. Polk and Henry Clay. Polk ultimately claimed victory.
