This lithographed political cartoon was submitted for copyright by the New York firm of Currier & Ives weeks before the 1860 presidential election, in obvious anticipation of a Republican victory. Its creator, Louis Maurer, utilized the newly popular game of baseball as metaphor for the "national game" of presidential politics. Shown are Lincoln and his three opponents: the Constitutional Unionist John Bell, of Tennessee, and the two candidates of a fractured Democratic party, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. The only hope for the Democrats was a "fusion" of the opposition parties in key Northern states to deny Lincoln their electoral votes and throw the election into the House. This did not come to pass, however, and Lincoln won with 40 per cent of the popular vote; the result, of course, was disunion and civil war. In the cartoon, each candidate's bat and belt bear keynotes of his campaign. Lincoln holds the ubiquitous rail instead of a bat, and claims the game ball then awarded to the victor of a "match". His three opponents are "skunked" (defeated).