Political Race Course, Union Track: the 1836 election as a horse race

An 1836 New York lithograph printed and published by H. R. Robinson stages the presidential race on a track. Harrison, "Old Tippecanoe," leads; Jackson rides Van Buren, "The Kinderhook Poney"; and the riders' speeches call the result for Harrison.

Content note: the archive flags the epithet "Black Dan" for Daniel Webster and regional stereotypes in the speech balloons. They are quoted as printed.

The field

The caption numbers four entries: "Old Tippecanoe," "The Kinderhook Poney," "Tennessee White" and "Black Dan of Massachusetts." In the picture, as the archive reads it, Harrison is in front, then Van Buren with Andrew Jackson in the saddle, then Webster and White, while a crowd throws up its hats. The archive notes that the Library of Congress gives the left-to-right order with Webster third, though the caption numbers White third and Webster fourth.

[Balloon, Jackson] By the Eternal! I'll never back a Northern Horse again. They have neither wind nor bottom, and so cursed slippery withal that it's hard to keep your seat on them. [...] I say Old Boy if you'll stop a minute I'll jump off & beat you myself.

[Balloon, southern rider] The game is up! & OLD TIP is winning the prize notwithstanding the training of OLD HICKORY. [...] — Thank God he's beaten! so we may as well hold up.

POLITICAL RACE COURSE - UNION TRACK - FALL RACES 1836

N° 1 Old Tippecanoe. N° 2. The Kinderhook Poney. N° 3. Tennessee White. N° 4 Black Dan of Massachusetts

Printed and Published by H. R. Robinson 48 & 52 Cortland[t] St. New York.

How the joke works

Every balloon expects the same outcome. Harrison's rider says that his horse's "wind and bottom are staunch as his backers are honest." Jackson curses his mount. A rider the archive labels, by inference, as southern says "OLD TIP is winning the prize," and a figure it labels Jack Downing predicts that the "tarnel Kinderhooker" will throw his rider into a dirty pool. The archive tags bandwagon for that chorus of concession and name-calling for "Cold blooded Kinderhooker" and "Black Dan."

The speech balloons give Jackson a large part. He is drawn as Van Buren's jockey and trainer, which turns the sitting president's backing into the joke. The print offers no claim about either man's record. It asks the viewer to join the crowd already cheering for Harrison.

Maker and companions

H. R. Robinson of New York printed and published the sheet, and the Library of Congress attributes the drawing to Edward Williams Clay. That attribution links it to The Fox Chace, the 1840 Whig cartoon that carries Clay's monogram. The Democratic side of the same year is the pair of Ohio "Stop Van!!!" tickets, which run the same race on pigs and let Van Buren win it. For the wider century, see the campaign print hub.