Collection Search
The Union Must and Shall be Preserved
- Creator:
- W.H. Rease
- Location:
- Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
- Origin Date:
- 1860
- Materials:
- paper, print
- Measurements:
- overall: 20 in x 25 in
- Item ID:
- 71.2009.081.0201
- Holding Institution:
- Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum
- Available for Viewing:
- No
- Category:
- Fine Art
Description
This print was used as a campaign banner for the 1860 Republican ticket. Oval bust portraits depict Abraham Lincoln and his running mate Hannibal Hamlin. Lincoln's image is based on an 1859 photograph by Fasset. A banner bearing the words, "The Union Must and Shall be Preserved" ripples across the top of the composition. A rustic, bent-wood frame surrounds the portraits, a nod to Lincoln's humble backwoods origins; the frame is draped with a banner reading, "Free Speech, Free Homes, Free Territory." Two laborers flank a shield at the center bottom of the composition reading, "Protection to American Industry." Part of the Lincoln Financial Foundation, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum.