Heart of Lincoln Land

Lincoln Apparel’s new "Wide Awake Club" T-shirt, intended to look like how a Lincoln campaign T-shirt might have in 1860. Copyright © 2010 Lincoln Apparel.

This has been a busy summer so far for Lincoln Apparel, and I’m enjoying it. I’ve released two new designs – "Wide Awake Club", which was created for the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s election this year, and a yellow version of my popular "80s Abe" T-shirt, which has also been reprinted and restocked in its three original colors as well (no longer are any of the sizes "temporarily out of stock"). All of these shirts are now available on the Lincoln Apparel website, as well as locally at Springfield Novelties and Gifts on 6th Street and at the Old Capitol Farmer’s Market artisan area each Saturday.

The “Wide Awake Club” T-shirt has a lot of history behind it, and it was designed to resemble an 1860 Lincoln campaign banner or poster. In fact, during the creation of the shirt, I researched what many of these looked like, and incorporated their design style or elements into the design.

Before you ask, the "Wide Awakes" were localized, grassroots groups of young Lincoln supporters during the 1860 presidential campaign, thus the name of the T-shirt (and the reason why it says "Wide Awake Club"). I’ve already gotten asked this quite a bit, and I enjoy educating people about this (and other bits) of Lincoln history (my T-shirts do make great conversational pieces!). In fact, the "Wide Awakes" themselves had their own banners, with each club having a different design that was specific to their locality. One such banner is on display in the Old State Capitol, near the governor’s office. (It reads "LINCOLN, 3rd Ward, Mind Your Eye, WIDE AWAKES", and there is a picture of this Wide Awakes banner here.)

Now, obviously, with one T-shirt design it wouldn’t be possible to create a T-shirt for each specific locality (since I’d need to create a different design for each locality), so I had to settle for making a non-localized design. I based the design off of a picture of Lincoln often used during his 1860 Presidential campaign – the famous "Cooper Union" portrait, taken in February of 1860 in New York City, during a trip where he gave a famous speech that helped convince Easterners, and the nation, that he was a serious contender for President.

Closeup of the new "Wide Awake Club" Lincoln T-shirt by Lincoln Apparel. Copyright © 2010 Lincoln Apparel.

Now, in 1860, the process of "halftoning" – using dots of different sizes to print photographs and other images with gradients – had not been invented yet. So instead of using a photograph and having it printed with halftones on the shirt, I used a lithograph instead, which is what would have been printed in newspapers and on posters and the like in 1860. I artistically divided it into red and blue colors, since I knew I was going to use those patriotic colors for my design. I then focused on other common elements used in Lincoln election propoganda in 1860 – slogans like "Honest Old Abe" and "Railsplitter of the West", and imagery related to Lincoln’s frontier roots and his "Railsplitter" moniker, which I added into the lower portion of the design, under the lower half of the oval-shaped portrait of Lincoln.

Finishing up the design, I added 33 stars above the portrait of Lincoln – one for each state in the Union in 1860. (In fact, the flag that flies above the Old State Capitol is a 33 star flag – otherwise, it wouldn’t be fully restored to its 1860 appearance.) Finally, I added the text, "ABRAHAM LINCOLN for President 1860", below all of the artwork. I used fonts that were in common use on posters and banners 1860 for this and the other textual elements of the design.

All of these design elements come together to create a new original design, that resembles an 1860 Lincoln campaign poster or banner, and translates to the T-shirt medium well. Not that wearing something to support your candidate was necessarily new back then – people wore ribbons, typically emblazoned with their candidate’s picture, to support their candidate, just how nowadays, people wear T-shirts and buttons. So, in a lot of ways, the campaign T-shirt is the descendant of the campaign ribbon, except it’s bigger, like a banner. I can easily see Lincoln supporters wearing this T-shirt in 1860 if T-shirts existed then. (You can read more about the 1860 election in this post).

However, now you can show your support for Lincoln today (don’t you wish he could be president sometimes?) by wearing this T-shirt. It’s a cream colored T-shirt, instead of a white one, to make it feel old and authentic. Cool, isn’t it?

The new yellow "80s Abe" Lincoln T-shirt. The other three colors have been reprinted too, and are now in stock again. Copyright ©2009 Lincoln Apparel.

And speaking of cool stuff, my popular "80s Abe" T-shirt, representing a Lincoln for a different past era, one I love and that I grew up in, has been reprinted and is now in stock again. (You can read more about the creation of the "80s Abe" T-shirt here.) This time, I added a new color – yellow – in addition to the black, blue, and green colors, and the sizes now start at small instead of medium, since I’ve had people ask me why I don’t have any small. (I originally thought the design would be too big for that size, that’s why, but it really isn’t – the new shirts have the same 17×20 inch print as the old ones).

Interestingly, "80s Abe" has sold well and enjoyed a great reception amongst people of all generations, not just my own. I’ve sold that shirt to younger people, and older people as well. The 1980s were a time of great creativity amongst many different types of art and creative work; this goes to show that great art and creative work is timeless and appeals to any generation, much like Lincoln.

Another interesting thing is that "80s Abe" actually has no words (unless you want to count Lincoln’s signature). I think this sums up how I feel about T-shirts in general – the great ones need no words, just great artwork. I’ve never been one to wear simple funny text T-shirts; rather, I’ve always enjoyed making the world a brighter place by wearing cool artistic T-shirts. I love the T-shirt as an art medium since it’s wearable, so other people can see the artistic message, and spread it, instead of it just being something to hang on your wall, and because T-shirts provide a rather large "canvas" on which to "paint" your design.

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"Campaign 1860" Lincoln T-shirt design by Lincoln Apparel. This is a mockup; I’m working on getting this printed soon!

Today is the 150th anniversary of the day that Lincoln was nominated to run for President. I’ve designed a new T-shirt (pictured to the right), styled like a campaign banner or poster from the era, to commemorate this and Lincoln’s subsequent run for President. It isn’t printed yet, but I’ll have that done soon.

Lincoln secured the Republican Party nomination for President on May 18, 1860, during the Republican convention in Chicago. He secured the nomination on the third ballot. Because candidates did not actively campaign during Lincoln’s time, Lincoln was not present at the convention, instead he was at home in Springfield monitoring the activities at the convention and the results of the balloting.

Unlike today, there were also no formal primaries during Lincoln’s time. Candidates were chosen via a system of state and national conventions; Lincoln’s nickname, “The Rail Splitter”, came from the state convention a few weeks earlier in Decatur. The name was the brainchild of Richard J. Oglesby, a friend and political ally of Abraham Lincoln, and a future governor of Illinois (he was governor when Lincoln was assassinated, and during the latter years of the Civil War). At the Decatur convention, Lincoln’s mother’s cousin John Hanks recalled that Lincoln had split rails in the area 30 years earlier, and carried rails supposedly split by Lincoln into the convention. Between the two rails a banner was stretched, reading:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
The Rail Candidate
FOR PRESIDENT IN 1860
Two rails from a lot of 3000
made in 1830 by Hanks and Abe Lincoln
whose father was the first pioneer
of Macon County.

When the rails and the banner were brought in, the crowd in Decatur went wild for Abraham Lincoln, and he went on to the national convention in Chicago.

There were three cities – Indianapolis, Chicago, and St. Louis, that the Republican Party in 1860 thought of holding the national convention. The cities were chosen because anti-slavery sentiment was strong in them, and they were located in states Republicans wanted to pick up in 1860 after losing them in 1856. St. Louis was quickly eliminated because it was located in a slave state; Chicago was later chosen since it was easily accessible via rail, had enough hotel rooms for the convention, and was located in a state the Republicans wanted to win in 1860.

For the convention, a giant temporary structure, called the “Wigwam”, was built in Chicago. It was located at the corner of Lake Street and Market Street (now Wacker Drive). (There is a historical marker there noting the location now.) It was like a temporary stadium – it was to hold the 466 delegates, hundreds of newspaper reporters, and perhaps up to 10,000 spectators, with over 1,000 of them on an upper balcony. Just imagine how loud it would be in there – and it was, since supporters of candidates basically had to yell, since there were no microphones back then. Delegates were seated in different sections based upon the state they represented; like conventions today, the number of delegates per state was proportional to the size of the electorate. It took a majority vote of the delegates to secure the nomination, so Lincoln needed 234 votes.

William H. Seward

Senator William H. Seward of New York was the front-runner for the nomination in 1860. Many people considered Lincoln, who was lesser known, to be a second choice. However, because Lincoln was considered more moderate on the slavery issue than Seward, he was more popular in states in the lower North, like Pennsylvania, Indiana, and his home state of Illinois. The Republicans felt that they would have a better chance of winning if they could get a candidate that could carry these important states. However, they had to avoid angering Seward strongholds like New York (which had the largest number of delegates) and Michigan. Salmon P. Chase was popular in his home state of Ohio, so Lincoln couldn’t necessarily count on votes from that state either. There was a lot of competition at the convention to become the Republican nominee.

The convention was held from May 16-18, 1860. While Lincoln sent his friends and supporters, he did not attend himself, as that was not the custom of the day. He eagerly awaited the voting results here in Springfield, frequenting the telegraph office on the north side of the square (where Pease’s Candy Shop now is) and the offices of the Republican-aligned Illinois State Journal newspaper (just north of the square on 6th Street, across from where the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is now). (The Illinois State Register was a Democratic-aligned paper; they later merged with the Journal in the 20th century to form today’s State Journal-Register).

On the first ballot, no one reached 234 votes, however, Seward led with 173 1/2 votes, and Lincoln came in second with 102 votes. (Lincoln predicted he would receive no more than 100 on the first ballot). Seward carried New York, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, while Lincoln carried Illinois and Indiana, picking up votes from other states as well along the way. This established Lincoln as a serious contender.

On the second ballot, Lincoln came back much stronger – 181 votes to Seward’s 184 1/2. New Hampshire voted strongly for Lincoln this time around, and Vermont became the first state to abandon its native candidate and go for Lincoln instead. More importantly, Pennsylvania chose to switch its votes to Lincoln from home state candidate Simon Cameron. Ohio still remained committed to their native, Salmon Chase. Nobody won, but Lincoln proved to be a formidable contender, and gained significant ground against Seward.

Finally, on the third ballot, Lincoln picked up additional votes from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Kentucky. More importantly, Chase delegates from Ohio began to switch their votes to Lincoln, eventually pushing Lincoln’s total past 234. At that point, cheering erupted and a cannon on the roof of the Wigwam was fired, and a photo of Lincoln was pulled from the committee room and carried through the center of the Wigwam as the crowds celebrated Lincoln’s nomination.

The 100 block of North 6th Street in Springfield today. The building on the left at the corner is where the telegraph office was located in 1860, and further down this block on the left is where the State Journal offices were located.

In Springfield, shortly after noon on Friday, May 18th, Lincoln went to the telegraph office on the north side of the square, awaiting the results. He decided after the second ballot to go to the offices of the State Journal. Officials from the paper went over to the telegraph office to wait for the results of the third ballot to come in. When the message arrived from Chicago that Lincoln had secured the nomination with 354 votes, the jubilant officials went back to the office to tell Lincoln he had won the nomination. Celebrations began as Lincoln walked out into the street. A hometown candidate had won the Republican nomination for President, something that did not seem likely before the convention. The celebrations continued on into the night.

Thus began Lincoln’s run for President in 1860. Symbols like the “Rail Splitter”, “Honest Old Abe”, and grassroots pro-Lincoln groups like the Wide-Awakes were formed. I’ll leave these elements (which I combined into my Campaign 1860 T-shirt design you see above) for more blog posts later on as the 150th anniversary celebration of Lincoln’s election continues this year.

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