The Modern Democratic Creed! Letter of John Brodhead, Democratic Candidate for City Treasurer…

Letterpress broadside, 18 7/8" x 11 3/4", bold black type for highlighted words. Paper evenly toned, some wrinkling, considerable archival conservation and restoration with archival paper repair; despite the imperfections it is still a decent copy with a nice impression. This appears to fall into the political dirty tricks department in an election between John Brodhead and Henry Bumm for city treasurer in Philadelphia. The broadside is supposed to highlight a letter from John Brodhead to Jefferson Davis in 1860. It has strong racist overtones, as Brodhead supposedly requests a position in Nicaragua, so he can "help open it up to civilization and Niggers." He goes on to state he is "tired of being a white slave at the North, and long for a home in the sunny South." These kinds of political tricks were not uncommon during the Civil War period (perhaps that's still true today), and the racist overtones would certainly not help one's chances in a Northern election.