--- title: Presidents' Day History: Campaign Ads of the 19th Century description: Currier and Ives created these banners for campaigns of the mid-1800s canonical: https://time.com/4209468/presidential-campaign-ads-19th-century/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-15T17:00:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:27.676Z article:section: History og:title: Presidents' Day History: Campaign Ads of the 19th Century og:description: Currier and Ives created these banners for campaigns of the mid-1800s og:url: https://time.com/4209468/presidential-campaign-ads-19th-century/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt498f238c40153053/69887c45cf40a87546c41d41/currier-ives-america-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Currier and Ives Political Banner 1848 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Presidents' Day History: Campaign Ads of the 19th Century twitter:description: Currier and Ives created these banners for campaigns of the mid-1800s twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt498f238c40153053/69887c45cf40a87546c41d41/currier-ives-america-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Presidential Campaign Ads From the 19th Century  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 15, 2016 5:00 PM CUT  Grand Democratic Free Soil Banner. Nathaniel Currier, 1848. Grand Democratic Free Soil Banner. Nathaniel Currier, 1848.Currier & Ives' America: From a Young Nation to a Great Power. By Walton Rawls. Published by Abbeville Press, New York. All rights reserved.  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 15, 2016 5:00 PM CUT In the days before photography was widespread, the lithograph was America’s preferred method for making mass-produced images. And none did more to shape the patriotic aesthetic of the young nation’s political life than those by the duo of Nathaniel Currier and James M. Ives. Among the iconic images created by the two during the mid-19th century were reams of campaign banners, the first of which was crafted in 1844 for Democrat James K. Polk. The lithograph was meant to go on pamphlets that could be handed out to voters. Soon, the campaigns of rivals Martin Van Buren and Zachary Taylor both hired Currier to create political banners for them. These pictures might not exactly look like the campaign literature of today, but it’s easy to see how they functioned as the forebears of 2016’s TV ads and mailings. A new edition of _Currier & Ives’ America: From a Young Nation to a Great Power_ by Walton Rawls—in which these images can be found—will be available this March.  Grand National Democratic Banner. Nathaniel Currier, 1844\. The first political banner. Currier & Ives' America: From a Young Nation to a Great Power. By Walton Rawls. Published by Abbeville Press, New York. All rights reserved.  Grand Democratic Free Soil Banner. Nathaniel Currier, 1848. Currier & Ives' America: From a Young Nation to a Great Power. By Walton Rawls. Published by Abbeville Press, New York. All rights reserved.  Grand National, Whig Banner/Press Onward. Nathaniel Currier, 1848 Currier & Ives' America: From a Young Nation to a Great Power. By Walton Rawls. Published by Abbeville Press, New York. All rights reserved.  Grand National Republican Banner/Free Labor, Free Speech, Free Territory. Nathaniel Currier, 1856 Currier & Ives' America: From a Young Nation to a Great Power. By Walton Rawls. Published by Abbeville Press, New York. 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