A satire on the Democrats' approach to the delicate question of the annexation of Texas. In marked contrast to his portrayal of the issue as a beautiful woman in "Virtuous Harry" (no. 1844-27), the artist here presents Texas as the ugly hag War or Chaos, brandishing a dagger, pistols, whips, and manacles. She embodies the threat of war with Mexico, feared by American opponents of annexation. The whips and manacles in her left hand may also allude to slavery, whose expansion into the new territory was desired by southern annexationists. Bucholzer parodies Van Buren's evasion of the controversial and sectionally divisive issue and Democratic candidates Polk and Dallas's motives in favoring the measure. Senators Thomas Hart Benton and John C. Calhoun confront Van Buren with Texas, whom they support on a plank across their shoulders. Calhoun says, "Come, Matty, we introduce you to the Texas Question, what do you say to her Ladyship?" Van Buren, backing away, replies, "Take any other shape but that and my firm nerves shall never tremble!" Andrew Jackson, who prods Van Buren from behind with his cane says, "Stand up to your lick-log Matty or by the Eternal you'll back into Salt River before you know it." In the background right are Polk and Dallas. Polk says, "What say you Dallas? She's not the handsomest Lady I ever saw but that $25,000 a year-- Eh! it's worth a little stretching of Conscience!" (The annual salary of a U.S. President was $25,000.)|Drawn by H. Bucholzer.|Entered . . . 1844 by James Baillie.|Lithography & print coloring on reasonable terms by James Baillie No. 33 Spruce St. N.Y.|The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright on July 24, 1844.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 76.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1844-36.

A satire published before the Democratic convention, predicting would-be presidential nominee Martin Van Buren's second "bath in Salt River" (the first one being his unsuccessful bid for reelection in 1840). On the left bank of "Salt River," a colloquialism for political failure or misfortune, Whigs Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and two unidentified men combine strength to pull a fox with Van Buren's head from the opposite bank and into the water. The "Kinderhook fox," as Van Buren was known, loses his footing. He has been supported by (left to right) incumbent President John Tyler, Tyler's son Robert, Senator Thomas Hart Benton, and an unidentified fourth man. Tyler has had ahold of the fox's tail, which has just come off in his hands, and all collapse in a heap. Clay taunts Van Buren, "Walk up, Matty this is only the Sober second thought of the people." "Sober second thoughts" was a catch-phrase in the 1840 campaign, referring to Van Buren's desertion by working-class supporters. (See "Sober Second Thoughts," no. 1838-15). Van Buren pleads with Tyler, "Hold on, hard, Tyler: for I have been so deep in Salt River once that I shiver at the thought of another sousing." Tyler: "Oh! cursed luck! There is nothing left me but your tail! Is this the way you reward your devoted friends? I wish you had kept it!" Robert Tyler (a poet): "No matter, father, I'll use them up in a poem of 50 Cantos." Benton, as "Mint Drops" (i.e., gold coins, symbolizing his bullionist monetary stance) fall from his pocket, brandishes a quill pen, saying, "If I must fall, preserve this sacred pen which expunged the villainous Clause." The expunging quill was a memento of Benton's successful campaign to strike the Senate's 1834 censure of Andrew Jackson from the congressional record. Standing on a bank at the lower right, waving his cane, Democratic patriarch Andrew Jackson exclaims, "By the Eternal! They have forsaken Matty "in his extremity." I always prophesied that Tyler would not stick to him "in the end!"" His comment sums up the message of the cartoon, which is that Van Buren's campaign was hampered by erosion of his traditional Democratic support and internal divisions within the party ranks during the spring of 1844.|Entered . . . 1844 in the Office of the S. District of N.Y.|Lith. & pub. by James Baillie 33 Spruce Street N.Y.|Signed: H. Bucholzer.|The Library's impression of "Matty Taking His Second Bath" was deposited for copyright on May 16, eleven days before the Democratic convention opened in Baltimore. On May 29 James K. Polk received the party's presidential nomination.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 80.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1844-16.

Clay portrays Martin Van Buren driven from the White House by nightmares of cider barrels and Whig presidential challenger William Henry Harrison. Van Buren flees the presidential mansion in his nightshirt, dropping a purse on the steps behind him. He is pursued by the specter of a winged barrel of hard cider with the head of Harrison. Van Buren speaks in quasi-Shakespearean verse: Oh I have had a dream so horrible, Twould make the wiry stubble of your head -- Stand stiff as cabbage stalks in frozen field! Methought, whilst slumbering in my chair of state, My custom always of an afternoon, a cider barrel Rose from out the earth, and, nearly simultaneous, A horrid engine like unto a cider press; Within which press, by some invisible hand, I felt myself impelled! Oh then, methought, What pain it are to smash! and how intolerable -- Our sufferings is! as I my vital juices did pour forth. Anon a legion of foul fiends in shape Of cider barrels, did environ me, and one, With head resembling an old hero, Screamed in my ears "Remember March the 4th & Harrison", But ha! that form and voice again! See how he beckons me! I must absquatulate! March 4 was at that time the traditional inauguration day. For another use of the curious term "absquatulate" (also "absquabulate") see James Akin's "The Little Magician's Sleight of Hand Performance" (no. 1840-40). In the street Van Buren encounters two startled allies, Senators John Calhoun and Thomas Hart Benton. Calhoun exclaims, also in verse: My liege what dreadful vision has, In the lone dreary hour of night,Thus harrowed and unstrung your royal nerves? Benton, peering through his monocle, says: My liege this is the very coinage of your brain! I see no cider barrel fiend nor aught Save these few mint drops from your highness purse No doubt escaped which I within the folds of my cravat Will keep secured. The "mint drops" to which Benton refers are the coins which spill from Van Buren's purse. This is a double reference to the perennial Whig charge of corruption of the Democratic administration and to Benton's bullionist championing of hard money fiscal policy. The verse sounds Shakespearean and, given the supernatural subject matter, may allude to "MacBeth" or "Hamlet. For example, when Hamlet first meets his father's ghost in Act 1, Scene 5, the ghost says, "I could a tale unfold whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul . . . and each particular hair to stand an end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine." Based on the subject, Weitenkampf dates "Matty's Dream" 1841. The Whigs were victorious in the 1840 election but, like "Notice to Quit" (no. 1840-59) the print represents confident but premature hopes on the artist's part, rather than post-election gloating. As the Library's impression shows, the print was deposited for copyright on August 26, 1840. "Price 25 Cents" is printed in the margin of the print.|Entered . . . 1848 by J. Childs.|Published by John Childs, no. 90 Nassau St. New York.|Signed with monogram: EWC (Edward Williams Clay).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Davison, no. 145.|Weitenkampf, p. 70.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-54.

A pro-Whig satire on the presidential campaign of 1840. Martin Van Buren is neck-deep in the waters of "Salt River," a colloquial term for political misfortune or failure. He sinks under the weight of boxes marked "Tariff," "Hooe's Trial," "Negro Suffrage," "Sub Treasury," and "Standing Army of 200,000 Men," surmounted by a crown with a hand holding a purse. His hat, filled with newspapers friendly to the administration, floats away. Whig candidate William Henry Harrison paddles downstream on a barrel of hard cider. On the shore behind him is a shed labeled "Humane Society's Apparatus for the Recovery of Drowned Persons." Van Buren: "Oh that I could shake off this load! I am sinking deeper and deeper into the quicksand of Loco Focoism! Help! Ming! Riel! Slam! Bang! Help!" (He names New York Democratic figures Alexander Ming and Levi Slamm.) Harrison: "It's a pity to let the poor fellow drown; I had an idea of making him Inspector of Cabbages of Kinderhook for that's all he's good for; but I think he will sink. Oh what a weight!"|Entered . . . 1840 by J. Childs. |Published by J. Childs no. 90 Nassau St. N.Y.|Signed with monogram: EWC (Edward Williams Clay).|The Library's impression was deposited for copyright on August 31, 1840. Printed in the lower margin is "Price 25 Cents."|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 65.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-55.

U.S. Army recruiting poster showing a map of the United States entitled "The work of the Construction Division of the Army" which identifies locations as "National Guard Camps", "Signal Corps Camps", "Tank Corps", "Nitrate Plant", "Chemical Warfare Camps", "Artillery Camps", "Ordnance Arsenals", and others; also lists a number of employments available to enlisted servicemen. Poster caption: Learn a trade while serving a one or three year enlistment with the Army builders ; Pay from $30 to $105 per month - Age limits 18 years to 45 years ; Food, clothing, quarters and medical attendance free. Where else can you find such an opportunity?

Poster showing a military medal for soldiers and a button "V--Liberty Loan" for civilians.

U.S. Army Medical Department recruiting poster showing scenes of educational opportunities in such areas as: x-ray instruction, clerical work, instruction in pharmacy, and laboratory work. Poster caption continues: Opportunities for qualified men to learn x-ray work, practical pharmacy, veterinary practice, dentistry, laboratory work, nursing, operating room work, [and] cooking [and] mess management. Med. Dept. recruiting poster no. 4. R.S.A.G.O., R.S. no. 210. November 3, 1919.

The second of two prints by "HD" portraying scenes from President Van Buren's visit to the resort at Saratoga Springs, New York, during the summer of 1839. (See also "The Cut Direct," no. 1839-3.) The satire comments favorably on Whig presidential hopeful Senator Henry Clay's successful precampaign tour of New York State that summer. In a ballroom Clay is greeted by Martin Van Buren, who says, "Mr. Clay you are welcome to the Empire state, I am quite rejoiced to see you so popular among the good people." Clay responds, "I thank you Mr. President for this cordial reception it is a proud and noble state and when thrown upon her own energies and resources uninjured by experiments she will be first in grandure and prosperity as she is the first in population & patriotism." Clay's reference to "experiments" may allude to Van Buren's proposed independent treasury program, whereby federal revenues would be held and paid out not by private banks or a federal treasury but by the collecting agencies or local "sub-treasuries." This concept was linked in opposition rhetoric to former President Andrew Jackson's "experiment" in decentralizing the federal treasury through abolishing the Bank of the United States and distributing funds among state banks. At left New York Democratic Senator Nathaniel P. Tallmadge and Gen. Winfield Scott converse. Scott observes that "the great men are quite cordial" and that Clay's reception was "very chee[r]ing." Tallmadge, an opponent of Van Buren's fiscal program, responds that Clay "deserves all that the people can do for him . . ." The men in the background are unshaven and wear extremely long locks. One remarks, "A cool thousand that I will never shave again--I may be shaved but thats fashionable dem me." Some of Henry Clay's supporters would not shave or cut their hair until Clay won the presidency. |Lith. of H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. |Signed with monogram: HD (Henry Dacre?).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 58.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1839-4.

New York governor Horatio Seymour's famous "My Friends" speech, delivered from the steps of New York's City Hall during the draft riots, was widely misrepresented in the press. On the basis of reports such as this, Seymour was viewed as a disloyal "Copperhead" agitator. The riots, which took place between July 11 and 16, 1863, broke out as a result of the Enrollment Act, which was highly discriminatory to the lower classes. (On this see "Wanted a Substitute," no. 1863-13). Although not an enthusiast of President Lincoln's war policies, Seymour actually rushed to the scene of the riots and tried to restore order. Here Seymour stands on the City Hall steps, addressing a motley crowd of armed rioters, most of them Irish. In the foreground one rioter holds the head of a black man in a noose, while three other black men hang from a tree in the background. (In reality, the rioters sacked and looted a Negro orphan asylum and hanged black men from lampposts.) Behind Seymour stand three men, including (left to right) a fool (no doubt a newspaper editor) wearing a cap labeled "Express," former mayor Fernando Wood (whose top hat fails to conceal a pair of devil's horns), and a man resembling Tammany boss Peter B. Sweeny, with a hat tagged "4-11-44." Below the scene is the dialogue: A Friendly Voice: "Governor, we want you to stay here." Horatio Seymour: "I am going to stay here, MíŰy Friends'" Second Rioter: "Faith and the Governor will stay with us." Horatio Seymour: "I am your fíŰriend;" and the fíŰriend' of your families." Third Rioter: "Arrah, Jemmy, and who said he cared about the DíŰirty Nagurs'?" Fourth Rioter: "How about the draft Saymere?" Governor: "I have ordered the president to stop the draft!" Chorus: "Be jabes, he's a 'broth of a boy." Weitenkampf, probably correctly, attributes the drawing for the print to Henry L. Stephens. It may have been published in connection with the New York "Tribune," whose building is prominent in the background. The "Tribune's" editor, Horace Greeley, was among Seymour's most vocal critics. |Probably drawn by Henry L. Stephens, New York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 138.|Purchase; Caroline and Erwin Swann Memorial Fund.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1863-12.

Poster showing two scenes, of men arriving for work at a shipyard, and of a sailor firing on a submarine. Title from item.

Poster featuring a strip of the cartoon "Ain't it a grand and glorious feelin'?" showing a soldier and his family in a YWCA hostess house. Credit: Briggs in the N.Y. Tribune.

Poster showing soldiers smoking pipes and cigarettes as they march past a damaged church. Text continues: €ź5 subscribed to the League will provide each man in a regiment at the front with one ounce of tobacco, or, 5/- will supply each man of a company with a similar quantity. A Red Cross worker in France writes to us: "I know now how greatly the fighters need tobacco." Please send a contribution to The Hon. Sec., Golden House, Gt. Pulteney St., London, E. (Eng.). Title from item.

Poster showing a wounded soldier looking to the horizon, where a Red Cross ambulance approaches and the Red Cross emblem rises like the sun. No. 010135. Stenciled at bottom: 222 Fourth Ave.

Poster soliciting enlistees for the United States Coast Guard. Text specifies, "machinists, oilers, firemen, coxswains, seamen, quartermasters, cooks, boys, buglers, ordinary seamen, coal heavers." Poster is text only. Forms part of: Willard and Dorothy Straight Collection.

U.S. Army recruiting poster showing officers and soldiers sending or receiving information through wireless and signal flags, other soldiers position and prepare to fire a cannon. Form no. 401. A.G.O.

U.S. Army recruiting poster showing an officer standing with a soldier, seated on a horse, blowing a bugle. Form no. 404. A.G.O.

Poster showing soldiers running in a field. Apply at [blank space] Recruiting Station. Stamped: Local Board for Division No. 1, for the County of Montgomery, State of Pennsylvania. Form No. 403, A.G.O.

U.S. Army recruiting poster showing an officer standing with a soldier next to an artillery battery manned by two men at a fort.

U.S. Army recruiting poster showing an officer standing with a soldier, seated on a horse, blowing a bugle. Form no. 404. A.G.O.