The Presidential Sweepstakes of 1844, Preparing to Start

What it is

This lithograph by Henry R. Robinson, printed in 1844, is a political cartoon that shows the candidates in that year's presidential election as horses and jockeys lining up to race. James Polk appears as a bucking horse, alongside caricatures of Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, John C. Calhoun and others, each given mocking speech balloons.

Why it matters

This cartoon reveals how fiercely contested and satirized the 1844 election was among contemporaries. By turning real politicians such as Clay, Van Buren, Calhoun, Daniel Webster and Thomas Hart Benton into horses and jockeys with comic dialogue, the artist mocked their rivalries and alliances, giving a vivid sense of the political humor and tensions of the time.

Look closer

• Why might an artist use a horse race as a metaphor for a presidential election?
• What do the speech balloons suggest about how each candidate or his supporters were viewed?
• What does this cartoon leave out about the real issues of the 1844 election?