Abraham Lincoln wasn\u2019t always the beloved household name he is today. In the 1860 presidential election, Lincoln was an underdog in a crowded field of better-known Republican candidates attempting to earn their party\u2019s nomination. With compelling speeches about his platform, photographs and stories that introduced him to the country, and a \u201cRail Splitter\u201d nickname that drew on his humble roots, Lincoln defied expectations when he won the Republican nomination and the national contest in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\u00a0The Rail-Splitter Surprise: Abraham Lincoln and the Presidential Election of 1860<\/em>, visitors will discover how Lincoln emerged as a viable presidential candidate to lead the nation during a period of divisiveness that would result in the Civil War. Materials on view include editorial cartoons, contemporary political speeches, campaign literature, and portraiture of Lincoln from the 1860 election season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This exhibition is curated by L. Rebecca Johnson Melvin, manuscripts librarian and curator of the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Senatorial Papers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Abraham Lincoln wasn\u2019t always the beloved household name he is today. In the 1860 presidential election, Lincoln was an underdog in a crowded field of better-known Republican candidates attempting to earn their party\u2019s nomination. With compelling speeches about his platform, photographs and stories that introduced him to the country, and a \u201cRail Splitter\u201d nickname that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-exhibition-splash.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-60","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/the-rail-splitter-surprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/the-rail-splitter-surprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/the-rail-splitter-surprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/the-rail-splitter-surprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/the-rail-splitter-surprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/the-rail-splitter-surprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/the-rail-splitter-surprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions\/61"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/the-rail-splitter-surprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Credits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n