Grant Campaign Paper Collar

1868
Scovill Manufacturing Company

In the years after the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant was viewed as a promising politician who could calm the agitated nation. In addition to his successful generalship in the conflict, Grant campaigned in 1868 as a cool-headed presence, running on the slogan “Let Us Have Peace.” He was able to unite a vast coalition of northern Republicans, formerly enslaved people in the south, and young voters hoping to move on from their ugly politics of the era, and defeat Horatio Seymour, the Democratic challenger. Grant’s portrait, and that of his running mate Schuyler Colfax, appear on this shirt collar.

Interpretive text provided by the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History

Cardboard. L 13.3, H 3.8, D 10.8 cm
Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, NMAH 227739.1868.C01