The Country Election, 1852 The Country Election records Election Day 1850 in Saline County, Missouri when Bingham himself stood for a place in the State Legislature. Bingham lost to E. D. Sappington who he shows as the unprincipled candidate in the shiny top hat standing on the steps handing out his card. Sappington and his campaign did try to buy votes with liquor, also he was related to the local election judge and the clerks. Bingham shows himself sitting on the courthouse steps with a friendly dog, being watched over his shoulder by two men in white straw hats, as he draws the scene. Bingham painted this scene twice. The first 'County Election' was exhibited at the Whig National Convention in Baltimore, which Bingham attended in July 1852. The copy painting (now St. Louis Art Museum) was completed later that summer, and like the first was used to promote the democratic ideals of the Whig Party to a national audience. When Sartain engraved the painting in Philadelphia Bingham wrote that he wanted “the design to be as national as possible – applicable alike to every section of the Union, and illustrative of the manner of a free people and free institutions.” George Caleb Bingham swore never to be involved in politics again but he was elected to the Missouri legislature in 1848 and served as state treasurer throughout the Civil War. John Sartain, American, 1808 - 1897, after George Caleb Bingham, American, (Augusta Co. VA, 1811 - 1879, Kansas City, MO) Engraving, hand-colored with glazes, on wove paper, sheet 23 3/4 x 31 7/8 in. (60.3 x 81 cm.) James Irwin, published by Goupeil & Co., 1854 Winston-Salem, NC., Reynolda House Museum of Art. Inv. 1983.2.37