Item #19623 The Excursion of the Bought Nominations. The Large Baloon "Union League," will start immediately. The Baloon is managed by the Old Hunkers in the Ring. POLITICS.

The Excursion of the Bought Nominations. The Large Baloon "Union League," will start immediately. The Baloon is managed by the Old Hunkers in the Ring

n.p., n.d. ca. 1869-70.

Small broadside, 4.5 x 8.5 inches. Faint foxing (primarily to the verso), minor creasing; near fine.

Admittedly, this undated, uncredited broadside is a bit of a puzzle. The "Old Hunkers"--depicted here as managing the balloon "Union League"-- were the more conservative of two factions of the Democratic Party in New York State during the 1840s. According to John Farmer's Americanisms Old and New (1889), "the Hunkers themselves clung to the homestead or old principles, but unkind critics insisted that it meant a clinging to a large hunk of the spoils of office." Although the original Hunkers were long gone by the time the Union Leagues formed in the early 1860s, "hunkerism" remained in use to describe politicians who toed the party line, clinging tightly to the rewards they received in return. Union Leagues were elite clubs established during the Civil War to promote loyalty to the Union. Members were generally wealthy men who supported the Republican Party and donated money to organizations supporting the war effort. After the war, Union League leaders were accused of using their political weight to promote members to positions from which they could line their own pockets. Although the manipulation of the (Republican, 1860s) Union League by the (Democratic, 1840s) Old Hunkers depicted on this broadside is at first hard to fathom, it seems likely that the reference to the Hunkers here is simply shorthand for a certain kind of political patronage. But what specific circumstances provoked this cartoon—whose nominations were being bought by whom--remains to be discovered. Not recorded in OCLC, but we are aware of two other extant examples.

Item #19623

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