"My knave hand, Buchanan, has lost me the game! I may as well slope! "
James K. Polk
"By Jove! Polk, Old Zack’s got the documents! three natties! "
James Buchanan
"Three bullets, Clay! Still at my old trade! Whenever bullets are to be met I am sure to have a hand with them!"
Zachary Taylor
"I tried my old bluffing game with a contented hand & nothing to brag with but a hand full of hearts! I’m not sorry however that Old Zach has won! "
Henry Clay
"Three braggers, Calhoun, would’n’t carry me through! "
Lewis Cass
"No, Cass, the Ante is too high for you! You’ll have to play for smaller stakes!"
John Calhoun
Drawn On Stone [Political Prints from the 1830's and 1840's]

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E.W. Clay
Political Game of Brag, Shew of Hands
Publisher: Andrew Donnelly
Lithograph
1848

 Presidential candidates play a game of three-card brag, an early version of poker, for the "Presidential Ante." During the campaign, Zachary Taylor, a hero of the Mexican-American war, won the Whig nomination over Henry Clay. Current President James K. Polk decided not to run for re-election while Senator Lewis Cass became the Democratic candidate.

This cartoon was most likely created after the Whigs chose Taylor at their convention on June 9 but before Martin Van Buren unexpectedly emerged as a strong third-party candidate when he was nominated by the Free Soil Party on August 9.