An indignant James K. Polk takes issue with Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster's public attacks on his Texas policy. In 1844 Webster had been opposed to the annexation of Texas and in 1846 he criticized attacked the war with Mexico over Texas as highly unjustifiable. Webster's first public speech on the war was made in late June, and the print probably did not appear before that. In the center, Polk (left) confronts Webster, warning, "If you say the Mexican War is a War of my own makeing you tell a falshood!" Raising his fists, Webster retorts, "I did say it & say it again!" To the left of Polk stand Thomas Ritchie and James Watson Webb, newspaper editors supporting the administration. Webb holds a bottle of "Tom and Jerry" and a sponge, commenting, "Principles, not men!" The Whig editor had opposed the annexation of Texas, but once hostilities commenced he urged military action to bring about a speedy termination. Webb's insistence on "principles" reflects his uneasiness in an alliance with a Democratic administration which stood to gain politically from the conflict. Ritchie reassures Polk, "In Union [a double entendre referring to his newspaper the "Washington Union&1] there is strength, Nous Verrons!" To the right of Webster stand an unidentified man (probably another journalist) and Horace Greeley, editor of the New York "Tribune. "Greeley, who was severely critical of Polk's policies, holds a bottle of "Lemon Soda" and (like Webb) a sponge, and remarks, "I wish Dan had eaten more Graham bread he's too fat for Polk!" (Graham bread was a well-known Greeley dietary preference.) The unidentified man remarks, "A Daniel come to blows, if not Judgment." The sponges and bottles are apparently intended for the relief of the fighters, much as the port and the "Old Monongohala Whiskey" figured in Anthony Imbert's "Set to between Old Hickory and Bully Nick"(no. 1834-4), on which "The Issue Joined"seems to be based. The precise significance of the "Tom & Jerry" and "Lemon Soda" is unclear. "The Issue Joined"is executed in a style similar to that of Edward Williams Clay. The faces of the characters may in fact be attributable to Clay, but the drawing of the figures and costumes are not up to that artist's standard.|H.R. Robinson's Lith. 142 Nassau St. N.Y.|T.B. Peterson Agent 98 Chesnut St. Phila.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 87.|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 1846-10.

The 1870 New York City charter, written by Tammany Hall political boss William Marcy Tweed and his associates, gave the "Tweed Ring" carte blanche to deplete the city's treasury. This cartoon, probably issued shortly after the charter's passage, is critical of the leeway given Tweed by some of New York's leading public figures. Tweed, as the Indian Tammany, raises his tomahawk to decapitate an unidentified man whose head lies on a stump. On his arm is tattooed a large "6," a reference to the Americus or "Big Six" Fire Company, which Tweed led in his earlier days. The victim moans, "Putty can't save me." Three severed heads already hang from Tweed's belt. Beside him an unidentified man standing beneath a hangman's rope remarks, "Bad noose for me." Behind a podium or railing in the background stands New York mayor A. Oakey Hall, who proclaims, "I am monarch of all I appoint." The new charter gave Hall authority to appoint all city officials. Governor John T. Hoffman, next to Hall, cries, "Save me from my friends." City Chamberlain Peter Barr Sweeny (right) holds a key and sits on a chest, vowing, "Upon this charter let us build." City Comptroller Richard B. Connolly rests his hand on a bag "New York City Treasury" and remarks, "Richard is himself again." At far left an unidentified man (possibly President Ulysses S. Grant) holding a pen asserts, "My voice is still for peace." ("Let us have peace" was Grant's 1868 campaign slogan.) A group of men including several New York journalists stand together at left, evidently prospective victims of Tweed's ax. Each holds a copy of his respective newspaper and comments. Joseph Howard, Jr., of the "Morning Star" (holding a bottle of "Soothing Syrup"): "I feel--I feel like the Morning Star." Manton Marble of the New York "World:" "I weep because there are no more worlds to lose." Marble was instrumental in exposing the "Tweed Ring." Charles Anderson Dana of the New York "Sun:" "The sun shines--but alas!--in vain." New York "Tribune" editor Horace Greeley and New York Congressman John Morrisey embrace. Morrisey: "I have fought--played cards--but cant get a hand in the treasury." Greeley: "This means business." On the basis of style the work can be attributed to the Currier & Ives shop.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 162.|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 1871-2.

Election ticket with Democratic slate for governor and other Virginia state offices. The vignette illustration includes the seal of the state of Virginia with an eagle and cornucopiae. Below the vignette is the motto; "No bargain, sale or management--no war, famine, pestilence or scourge--no safe precedents. Right of Instruction." It continues at the bottom, "No sectional interests, Justice and equality to all--and hˆü_ˆüąonor and gratitude to the man who has filled the measure of his country's glory.'"|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1828-12.

Election ticket with image of anchor, bales, and barrels on a shore, and sailing vessels beyond. Trunk in foreground is labeled "Edes Print" (printer's imprint)?|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1828-8.

Election ticket with image of a three-masted sailing vessel.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1828-6.

Election ticket with image of an anvil and hammer.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1828-9.

Election ticket with image of a hickory tree.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1828-10.

Prints number 1828-5 through 1828-10 make up a series of election tickets for John Van Laer Mcm.ahon and George H. Steuart, Democratic candidates for Baltimore delegates to the Maryland General Assembly in 1828. Each ticket bears a woodcut emblem and a motto. 1828-5 has a bust portrait of Jackson within an oval surmounted by an eagle, and flanked by American flags and cannon. The tickets were probably produced in Baltimore.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1828-5.

Election ticket with image of a primitive locomotive pulling two freight cars.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1828-7.

One of James Gordon Bennett's perennial editorial campaigns against the Catholic bishop of New York John Hughes is the subject of "Jamie & the Bishop." On the left Scottish-born "Jamie" Bennett, a quill pen behind his ear, shoots a clyster at the archbishop, saying, "Hoot awa mon, this is the best weapon in the College of Pharmacy, & mickle dirty water can I fling with it mon!" "Dirty water" is probably a reference to the notoriously squalid form of journalism practiced by Bennett in his newspaper, the New York "Herald." Hughes retaliates with a swing of his crozier, saying, "With all the power of Holy Church will I assail thee, most reprobate & contemptible viper." Behind Hughes stands an Irishman, a gin bottle in his pocket and club in his hand. He growls, "Be Jasus shtand back! your honor's worship, & let me have a shlap at him wid the shillaly!" Bennett is offered support by another Scotsman, who scratches his back against a nearby lamp-post, "Wait a bit, Jamie, till I've scratched my bock & I'll lend yees a hand, mon."|Entered . . . 1844 by James Baillie.|Lithography & print coloring on reasonable terms by James Baillie No. 33 Spruce St. New York.|Signed: H. Bucholzer.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright on July 5, 1844.|Weitenkampf, p. 83-84.|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 1844-30.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1865 by Gibson & Co. in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio.|Inscribed in ink below title: Filed June 19 1865.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Another state of no. 1861-23, with the addition of a skull and crossbones drawn on Davis's chest.|Probably published by Currier & Ives, New York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 129.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1861-24.

A caricature of Jefferson Davis, probably issued not long after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, but certainly postdating his February 1861 election as president of the Confederacy. Davis is shown standing on a gallows, draped in the Confederate flag and wearing on his head a misshapen Phrygian cap. Under him is a "Secession Trap" door. He anticipates his drop saying, "O dear! O dear! I don't really want to secede this way--I want to be let alone.'" To the gallows crossbar is nailed a "Letter of Marque." (See "The Southern Confederacy a Fact!!!," no. 1861-22.) Below stand several observers, including many prominent secessionists who await their own execution with nooses around their necks. They are (left to right) Secretary of State Robert Toombs, Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, Vice President Alexander Stephens, and South Carolina governor Francis W. Pickens. Each of them speaks. Toombs: "I begin to feel weak in the knees!" Beauregard: "Oh Jeff! Jeff! is that the elevated position that you promised me?" Stephens: "Alas! Alas! I prophesied in November that secession would be the death of us." Pickens is still defiant, saying: "Can it be possible that they will dare to hang a gĚ_Ąentleman from South Carolina?'" Another state of the print, with skull and crossbones drawn on Davis's chest, was also issued (evidently by Currier & Ives) under the title, "Jeff Davis, on His Own Platform" (no. 1861-24). |Probably published by Currier & Ives, New York, in 1861 or 1862.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 129.|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 1861-23.

An illustrated sheet music cover for an anti-Confederate comic song. Confederate president Jefferson Davis stands on a bale of cotton and asks John C. Breckinridge, former U.S. Vice President and fellow secessionist, to "Black Me." Breckinridge, in military uniform, complies and begins to paint Davis's face with blacking. Around Breckinridge's feet coils a "Copperhead," symbol of the Peace Democrats. Another snake winds around the broken, inverted staff of a Union flag. At right a grinning black man sits on boxes of "Butler's Blacking" and holds a tin of blacking in his hand. The name "Butler" probably refers to Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, a figure despised in the South. Among other things, Butler had forced the Confederacy to recognize the military status of U.S. Negro troops. At left under the heading "Memminger's Funeral Pile," bare-chested Confederate secretary of the treasury Christopher G. Memminger is partially submerged in a pile of C.S.A. bonds. Under his management, the Confederate Congress issued so many bonds that the people doubted its ability to redeem them, and prices skyrocketed. "Repudiation" appears in large letters on one of the bonds.|Alexander McLean lith.|Entered . . . 1864 by Mrs. Eunice Bussett . . . Missouri.|Published for the Author by Endres & Compton, no. 52, 4th St., St. Louis.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1864-43.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by J. Hoey, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. J. Hoey, designer and engraver on wood, Room 11, 160 Fulton St., New York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Another comic version of Confederate President Jefferson Davis's ignominious capture by Union troops in May 1865. (See also "The Chas-ed "Old Lady" of the C.S.A.," no. 1865-11.) Here Davis, clad as a woman and holding a wooden pail, is discovered by a lone trooper, Benjamin Dudley Pritchard of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry. The soldier lifts the skirts of the fugitive to reveal a pair of black boots. Davis's wife (at right) protests, saying, "Only my mother."|Entered . . . 1865 by Lee & Walker . . . Pa.|Philadelphia, Lee & Walker, 722 Chestnut St.|Published for the benefit of the Western Sanitary Fairs of Chicago, Ill. and Milwaukee, Wis.|The Library's impression of the sheet music cover was filed for copyright on June 28, 1865.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1865-19.

Signed in stone: F. Welcker.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Another version of Jefferson Davis's capture by Union cavalry. (See "The Chas-ed "Old Lady" of the Confederacy," no. 1865-11.) The image appears on the cover of a musical piece dedicated to Davis's captor, "Lieut. Col. D. B. [sic] Pritchard, 5th Mich. Cavalry," Davis, in a dress and bonnet and clutching a Bowie knife, flees through the woods with Union troops in close pursuit. One federal soldier has fallen down in his attempt to catch Davis.|Entered . . . 1865 by G.D. Russell & Company. |Franklin N. Carter Lith. Boston.|Published by G.D. Russell & Company 126 Tremont, opp Park St.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1865-14.

An illustrated election ticket for the presidential campaign of 1836. Oddly, the ticket lists Ohio's Democratic electors for Van Buren while making a vicious and obscene slur on the wife of his running-mate Richard M. Johnson. It seems to reflect the widespread internal dissatisfaction with the party's choice of Johnson as vice-presidential candidate. The image is of a black woman, supposedly Johnson's mulatto mistress Julia Chinn. She sits on a small knoll holding a bag, and says, "Let ebery good dimicrat vote for my husband, and den he shall hab his sheer ub de surplum rebbenu wat is in my bag." Evidently "surplum rebbenu" refers (at least on one level) to the Distribution Act, popularly known as the Surplus Bill, providing for the distribution of surplus federal revenue among the states. The bill was signed by Andrew Jackson in June 1836, to aid Van Buren's campaign. (See "Caucus on the Surplus Bill," no. 1836-9 ). Beneath her are the words "She plucks Dick [i.e. Johnson]--and Dick plucks you--and Van [Buren] plucks Dick." Below the title are two quotes, possibly campaign cries, "Go it, ye Cripples!" and "The people will it!!!" Three other Democratic tickets, apparently from the same press, are also included here (see nos. 1836-16, -17, and -19).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1836-18.

Northern rejoicing at the end of the Civil War often took the form of vengeful if imaginary portrayals of the execution of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Here abolitionist martyr John Brown rises from the grave to confront Davis, although in actuality the latter had nothing to do with Brown's 1859 execution. Brown points an accusing finger at Davis, who sits imprisoned in a birdcage hanging from a gallows. Davis wears a dress and bonnet, and holds a sour apple. Below, black men and women, resembling comic minstrel figures, frolic about. (For Davis's female attire, see "The Chas-ed "Old Lady" of the C.S.A.," no. 1865-11.) Since the beginning of the war Union soldiers had sung about "hanging Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree." Davis's actual punishment was imprisonment at Fortress Monroe after his capture on May 10, 1865.|Entered . . . 1865 by G. Querner . . . D.C.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|"Image of America," p. 81.|"The Confederate Image," p. 89.|Weitenkampf, p. 148.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1865-16.