"The Union, the Constitution and the enforcement of the laws. For President, John Bell of Tennessee. For Vice President, Edward Everett of Massachusetts" (W. H. Rease, 1860)
W. H. Rease's 1860 banner for Bell and Everett
W. H. Rease's 1860 banner for John Bell and Edward Everett: oval portraits, an eagle over a "Constitution" scroll, Columbia, and "LIBERTY & UNION."
Techniques named on the archive record
Glittering generalitiesTransfer
Date
1860
Made by
W. H. Rease, Philadelphia (lithographer and publisher), for the Constitutional Union Bell-Everett ticket
Medium
Print
Country
United States
Regime
Buchanan Administration
Source
Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (Popular Graphic Arts) , retrieved October 2, 2026
Source
Public domain: published 1860, US. LOC reuse note: "No known restrictions on publication." Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, "The Union, the Constitution and the enforcement of the laws. For President, John Bell of Tennessee. For Vice President,
Object, image, and catalog record from the FRAME archive. Text on this page is CC BY 4.0. Image rights are as the archive records.
W. H. Rease of Philadelphia lithographed and published this 1860 banner for the Constitutional Union ticket of John Bell and Edward Everett. Oval portraits flank an eagle, a "Constitution" scroll and a seated Columbia, with streamers reading "LIBERTY & UNION," "NOW & FOREVER" and "ONE & INSEPARABLE."
The design
John Bell's portrait sits in an oval on the left and Edward Everett's on the right. Between them, the archive describes an eagle over a scroll marked "Constitution," crossed flags, and a seated Columbia figure with a shield. Streamers carry three paired phrases, and a heading gives the ticket's slogan.
THE UNION, THE CONSTITUTION AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS
CONSTITUTION
LIBERTY & UNION
NOW & FOREVER
ONE & INSEPARABLE
FOR PRESIDENT
JOHN BELL
OF TENNESSEE.
FOR VICE PRESIDENT
EDWARD EVERETT
OF MASSACHUSETTS
LITH. BY W.H. REASE
COR. 4TH & CHESTNUT STS. PHILADA.
[...]
PUBLISHED BY W. H. REASE, PHILADELPHIA.
A motto in place of a platform
The archive's reading is short. The slogans are virtue words that stand in for a platform, and the eagle, the flags and Columbia lend the ticket the nation's own symbols. A banner that offers only those words asks the viewer to treat a party ticket as the country itself.
The transcribed text names no issue at all; the word slavery does not appear on it. The archive offers no reason for that. What the record shows is a design built entirely from shared symbols: a scroll, a bird, crossed flags, an allegorical woman, and phrases any party could have printed.
Same printer, other ticket
Rease of Philadelphia printed for more than one side that year. His Lincoln and Hamlin banner, also 1860, carries "FREE SPEECH, FREE HOMES, FREE TERRITORY." and "PROTECTION TO AMERICAN INDUSTRY". Set side by side, the two sheets show the difference between a banner that names positions and one that names none. The archive's maker line for the Bell banner says it was made "for the Constitutional Union Bell-Everett ticket." More campaign sheets from 1800 to 1900 are in the campaign print hub.
Sources
FRAME object record, "The Union, the Constitution and the enforcement of the laws. For President, John Bell of Tennessee. For Vice President, Edward Everett of Massachusetts" (W. H. Rease, 1860). W. H. Rease, Philadelphia (lithographer and publisher).
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (Popular Graphic Arts), catalog record, retrieved by the archive 2 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain, published 1860; LOC: "No known restrictions on publication."
