"The Genuine Rail"
date: label: date made
content: 1829-1830
name: label: associated person
content: Lincoln, Abraham
label: associated person
content: Hanks, John
notes: label: Description
content: Piece of fence rail with affidavit from John Hanks, Abraham Lincoln’s cousin. The affidavit reads: “This is to certify that this is one of the genuine rails split by A Lincoln and myself in 1829 and 30.”
label: Description
content: In May 1860 Illinois Republicans met to select their presidential nominee. Lincoln’s supporters staged a demonstration in the meeting hall, which they capped off with John Hanks, Lincoln’s cousin, carrying in two fence rails split by Lincoln and Hanks. Suspended from the rails was a banner that read, “Abraham Lincoln the Rail Candidate for President in 1860.”
label: Description
content: The delegates wildly cheered the theatrics, and Lincoln handily won the nomination. One observer noted, “That banner was to be the ‘Battle flag’ in the coming contest between ‘labor free’ and ‘labor slave,’ between democracy and aristocracy.” In that moment, Lincoln became a symbol of the self-made frontiersman and representative of honest, enterprising labor.
label: Description
content: John Hanks returned to the fences and gathered additional rails. During the campaign he sold pieces of the fence to Lincoln supporters that were used to decorate campaign headquarters and carried in parades. This piece, cut from a larger rail, was later sold to raise money for Union soldiers.
label: Description
content: Gift of Sen. Leverett Saltonstall, 1984
topic: label: used
content: Presidents
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, General History Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: Selections from the Abraham Lincoln Collection
label: See more items in
content: American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith
label: Exhibition
content: American Democracy
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Rubenstein, Harry R.. Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: William L. Saltonstall in memory of Senator Leverett Saltonstall
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1983.0418.01
label: accession number
content: 1983.0418
label: catalog number
content: 1983.0418.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: fence rail piece
label: Object Name
content: fence rail
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 in x 9 in x 4 in; 10.16 cm x 22.86 cm x 10.16 cm