The Rail Splitter was a campaign newspaper for Abraham Lincoln, the Republican presidential nominee, published in Chicago in 16 issues from June 23 through October 27, 1860.  Dr. Charles Lieb, the publisher, had endorsed Democrat James Buchanan for president in 1856, but switched to Lincoln and the Republicans in 1860.

Each tabloid size issue contained one or more cartoons, mostly aimed at Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln’s rival from Illinois and the nominee of the northern wing of the divided Democratic Party.  The Rail Splitter attacked Douglas for introducing and securing passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened the Western territories to the possibility of legalized slavery by repealing the Missouri Compromise line.  He was further criticized for advocating the doctrine of popular sovereignty, which allowed territorial voters to decide whether to legalize slavery or not.

On September 3, 1860, The Rail Splitter published a special pictorial issue, which included new and previously published cartoons.