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Pikes Peak is located in Pikes National Park in Colorado.  The mountain is named after Zebulon Pike, an American explorer who attempted to climb the mountain in the autumn of 1806, but failed to reach the top.  

The Spanish were the first to discover the peak in the 1700s.  It is now both a tourist attraction and the home to the United States Army Pikes Peak Research Laboratory.  

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Women for a Democratic America was a campaign slogan utilized during the 1996 United States Presidential election by the Democratic Party.  Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore were First and Second Lady of the United States, respectively, from 1993 to 2001, while their husbands, Bill Clinton and Al Gore served as President and Vice President.  

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The motivation behind this slogan is to get out the female vote in elections by way of linking women's suffrage to the Democratic Party.  Historically, the Democratic Party has proven popular among women due to the Party's view on reproductive rights.  

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The slogan "War is Not the Answer" was produced and distrubed on bumper stickers and buttons by the Sojourners Organization at the beginning of the Iraq war.  The organization, Sojo for short, is Christian based with a mission of expanding a movement orientated at social justice and peace.

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The message is meant to suggest breaking the metaphorical chains of conventional thinking or the traditional way of doing things. Each person who sees this button may have a different interpretation of what it means to “unchain yourself”, in that the button suggests seeking freedom from whatever it is a person feels is tying them down or keeping them from going their own way. 

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This button dates from President William McKinley's campaign for a second term in office in 1900. The colonies in question were those won in the Spanish American War, McKinley's greatest achievement while in office and the basis of his reelection campaign. The war began in 1898 with the explosion of the USS Maine, which was believed to have been orchestrated by Spain in retaliation for American attempts at helping Cuba (a Spanish colony) gain independence. Lasting for four months, the war was an American victory and Spain surrendered Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

McKinley, who believed that modern nations could only be strong if they had numerous colonies, ran for office in 1900 with the platform that by winning the war he had earned new colonies which would bring prosperity to the country. McKinley easily won the election, but was assassinated by an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz in 1901 while on a cross-country tour.

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Robert F. Kennedy, a Democratic senator from New York and the brother of former president John F. Kennedy, ran for the US presidency in 1968. Running against Lyndon B. Johnson who was running for his second term in office, Kennedy's campaign platform included hopes for negotiating peace in Vietnam and Cuba, and increased civil rights. His work towards desegregation and support for the Civil Rights Movement won him the votes of racial minorities, who distributed buttons like this one to rally voters to his cause. Unfortunately, Kennedy's campaign for the presidency was cut short when he was assassinated on June 5, 1968, after which the Republican candidate Richard Nixon defeated the Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey.

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This is a campaign button for Gary Hart's run for U.S. President in 1984. With his slogan of "new ideas," Hart challenged former Vice President Walter Mondale for the Democratic nomination. Mondale countered that in part by using the Wendy's slogan "Where's the Beef?" to question Hart's ideas. Hart won primaries in New Hampshire, Ohio, and a few other states, but Mondale was elected the Democratic nominee at the convention in San Francisco in July.

Hart ran for president again in 1988, but his campaign was derailed after he was pictured with Donna Rice on the boat "Monkey Business." He suspended his run in September 1987. He rejoined the race in December 1987 but withdrew again after a poor showing on Super Tuesday in March 1988. Hart was U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1978-1987. He was appointed U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland in 2014.

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The Connecticut Green Party is the Connecticut affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. The Green Party platform promotes, among other issues, social justice, grassroots democracy, nonviolence, and environmental concerns. Ralph Nader, a Connecticut native, ran as the Green Party candidate in the 2000 presidential election, going up against Republican (and eventual winner) George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore. Nader, who won 97,421 votes, was considered by some to be a “spoiler” in the election—Bush beat Gore by 537 votes, and exit polls indicate that 38% of Nader voters would have voted for Gore. This button is most likely indicating the general sense of displeasure with the national government felt by Connecticut Green Party members in the years following the 2000 election.  

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Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale were the Democratic nominees for President and Vice President in the 1976 United States Presidential election. Carter had previously served as the governor of Georgia from 1971-1975. Walter Mondale had served as a United States Senator, representing Minnesota from 1964-1976. Carter and Mondale defeated the Republican candidates, incumbent President Gerald Ford and his selection for Vice President, Bob Dole. Jimmy Carter was the first President elected who represented the Deep South since the 1848 Presidential election of Zachary Taylor.