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Rare 1844 Campaign Currier for James G Birney Rare 1844 Campaign Currier Print for the Candidacy of

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Historical Memorabilia Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 600.00 USD
Rare 1844 Campaign Currier for James G Birney Rare 1844 Campaign Currier Print for the Candidacy of
<B>Rare 1844 Campaign Currier Print for the Candidacy of James G. Birney, "Nominated by the Liberty Party for Eleventh President of the United States".</B></I> Birney's 1844 candidacy can be viewed as the first of a respected tradition of "third party" candidacies in American politics. The Whig and Democratic parties had emerged as national parties in a more modern sense of the term, so splinter candidacies such as Birney's could be identified as outside the conventional fold. <BR><BR>James Gillespie Birney was born in Danville, Kentucky, and studied law at Transylvania and Princeton, graduating in 1810. In 1818 he moved to the Birmingham, Alabama, area and worked with the National Colonization Society of America. Upon returning home to Kentucky in 1833, he freed his own slaves and became very active in the antislavery movement. He was the candidate for the antislavery Liberty Party both in 1840, when he received only 7,000 votes, and in 1844, where his 60,000 votes drew enough support away from Henry Clay in New York to throw the presidency to Polk. The party remained strong for a couple more years before uniting with the antislavery wings of the Whigs and Democrats to form the stronger Free-Soil Party. Birney was disabled when he fell from a horse in 1845 and spent the last 12 years of his life as an invalid. He had two sons that served as generals in the Union Army during the Civil War. <BR><BR>This is an exceptionally bright and clean example of an early Currier, free of any damage, and showing only a trace of age browning at the very edge of the border. 9.75" x 13.75".