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The Strife, Between An Old Hunker, A Barnburner and A No Party Man
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A particularly well-drawn satire on the three major presidential contenders for 1848, (left to right) Zachary Taylor, Martin Van Buren and Lewis Cass. Of the three the artist seems to favor Van Buren, the "Barnburner" candidate, who sits on a stool milking the cow which the others try in vain to move in opposite directions. Taylor, who tugs at the tail of the animal, is called a "No Party Man" because of his continued refusal to commit to a party ideology. Cass, the "Hunker" or conservative Democrat, strains at the cow's horns. Van Buren: "I go in for the free soil. Hold on Cass, dont let go Taylor, (That's the cream of the Joke)." Van Buren was the candidate of a coalition, between Barnburner Democrats and Liberty and Whig party abolitionists, called the Free Soil party. Zachary Taylor: "I don't Stand on the whig Platform 'I ask no favor and shrink from no Responsibility.'" Lewis Cass: "Matty is at his old tricks again, and going in for the Spoils old Zack, and myself will get nothing but skim milk."|Entered . . . 1848 by H.R. Robinson.|Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, 31 Park Row directly opposite the Park fountain adjoining Lovejoys Hotel|Probably drawn by "W.J.C.".|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 90.|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 1848-39.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/13/2013
Strong's Dime Caricatures. Domestic Troubles
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Public Domain
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The first in a series of four satires published by Thomas W. Strong, criticizing the secession movement in the South during the closing months of the Buchanan administration. (This impression was deposited for copyright on February 22, 1861.) A large hen, called "Union," watches anxiously as a hawk "Anarchy" swoops low over seven small ducks who swim on a nearby river. (The river is "Salt River," a symbol of political calamity.) The ducks represent Southern states, the one in the lead carrying South Carolina's flag. The hen comments, "Those Secession Ducks give me a great deal of trouble. They emptied the dish before they went, and there's no telling what will happen to 'em now they've left my wing. If that hungry hawk pounces on them, they will have no one but themselves to blame!" Several chicks gather around and under her wing. An empty "U.S. Treasury" plate is nearby, reflecting northern charges of embezzlement and diversion of federal funds to the South by federal officials who turned secessionist.|Entered . . . 1861 by T.W. Strong . . . New York.|Published by Thomas W. Strong, 98 Nassau St., New York.|Signed with initials: J.H.G. (John H. Goater).|Thomas W. Strong Sc.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 126.|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 1861-9.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
Strong's Dime Caricatures. Little Bo-Peep and Her Foolish Sheep
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Public Domain
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The second in a series of caricatures criticizing the secession of several Southern states from the Union during the last months of the Buchanan administration. Here the young nursery-rhyme shepherdess Bo-Peep represents the Union. She stands at left wearing a dress of stars-and-stripes bunting and with an eagle beside her, watching as seven of her sheep flee into a forest of palmetto trees infested with wolves. (The palmetto is the symbol of South Carolina, the leading secessionist state and first to dissolve ties with the United States.) The wolves wear crowns and represent the European powers which some feared would prey on the newly independent states. They prowl about and say, "If we can only get them separated from the flock, we can pick their bones at our leisure." Back in the clearing, grazing about Bo-Peep, are the remaining flock, two of which are labeled Virginia (closest to her) and Kansas. An old dog "Hickory" lies dead in the grass while another, named "Old Buck," flees toward the left. Bo-Peep vainly calls, "Sic 'em Buck! sic 'em! I wish poor old Hickory was alive. He'd bring 'em back in no time." Buck is lame duck president James Buchanan, who proved ineffectual against the secessionist threat to the Union. "Old Hickory" was the nickname of former Democratic president Andrew Jackson, venerated as a champion of a strong federal union. Although unsigned, the print seems on stylistic grounds to have been drawn by John H. Goater, the artist responsible for numbers one, three, and probably four in the "Dime Caricatures" series.|Drawn by John H. Goater?|Entered . . . by T.W. Strong . . . New York.|Published by Thomas W. Strong, 98 Nassau St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 126-127.|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 1861-10.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
Strong's Dime Caricatures. South Carolina Topsey In A Fix
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The third in Thomas W. Strong's "Dime Caricatures" series of antisecessionist prints published early in 1861. Here Topsy, the impish slave child in Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," personifies the secessionist state South Carolina. An elegantly dressed lady, Columbia, is based on Stowe's Miss Ophelia, the New England spinster who attempted the moral education of the child. Topsy appears repentant at the steps of a porch before Columbia, who sits on a chair with an American flag on her lap and a liberty cap behind her. On the floor beside her is a bald eagle. Columbia shows the flag to Topsy, displaying the holes in its blue field. She scolds her, "So, Topsey, you're at the bottom of this piece of wicked work--picking stars out of the sacred Flag! What would your forefathers say, do you think? I'll just hand you over to the new overseer, Uncle Abe [i.e., President-elect Abraham Lincoln]. He'll fix you!" Topsy responds, "Never had no father, nor mother, nor nothing! I was raised by speculators! I's mighty wicked, anyhow! ๖_ัhat makes me ack so?' Dun no, missis--I 'spects cause I's so wicked!" Behind her another slave turns to run down the steps exclaiming, "Hand us over to ole Abe, eh? Ize off!" Several more slaves watch or clown about in the yard beyond.|Entered . . . 1861 by T.W. Strong . . . New York.|Published by T.W. Strong, 98 Nassau St., N.Y.|Signed: John H. Goater del.|Thomas W. Strong Sc.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 127.|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 1861-11.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
Strong's Dime Caricatures. "The Schoolmaster Abroad" At Last
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The fourth in Strong's series of antisecessionist satires. Here the artist is optimistic about newly elected Abraham Lincoln's ability to end the secession movement among the Southern states. (The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright on March 12, 1861, eight days after Lincoln's inauguration). Here Lincoln stands over four mischievous boys who play in a "Secession" mudhole. He wears the costume of Uncle Sam or Brother Jonathan: striped trousers, a vest emblazoned with stars and stripes, a plain waistcoat, and a flowing tie. A toy flag of South Carolina (the leading secessionist state), a paper soldier's hat, and a miniature pistol lie nearby. These appear to have been dropped by a small girl whom Lincoln has in tow. She squirms and bites his hand in an effort to escape his unyielding grip, crying, "You let me alone! I will play in the mud if I like!" Lincoln addresses the boys in the mudhole, "Come, Boys! they are all waiting for you--you have staid there long enough! I will forgive you this time if you will try to do better in the future. Only think what a bad example you show the other boys." The "other boys" appear in the background, along a rail fence, where they play and sit contentedly. Four boys have already climbed from the mudhole and are putting on their clothes. One says, "Well, we've been playing hooky long enough; I guess I'll go back!" Another says, "Boys, he is after us! I reckon I'll reconsider!" and another, "If that's Uncle be,' I'll put my trousers right straight on again."|Entered . . . 1861 by Thomas W. Strong . . . Southern District of New York.|Probably drawn by John H. Goater.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 127.|Wilson, p. 122-123.|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 1861-12.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
Studying Political Economy
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Public Domain
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A crudely drawn but complex satire mocking Zachary Taylor's military background and lack of political experience. Student Zachary Taylor, wearing a paper cap made out of the journal "The True Whig" is seated on a low stool at the feet of his more politically seasoned running mate Millard Fillmore. Taylor reads from a book "Congressional Debates 1848. Slavery . . .", and spells out "W-I-L-M-O-T: Wilmot, P-R-O-V-I-S-O: Proviso. What do I know about such political stuff. Ah! Wait until I get loose, Then you will see what fighting is!" A torn sheet marked "National Bank" lies at his feet. Fillmore, who reads from "The Glorious Whig Principles [by] Henry Clay," admonishes Taylor, "This will never do, you must forsake this course,--for our party is a peaceful and rightous sect--free from wickedness." Behind Fillmore are an open book cabinet, the Constitution, and a globe. This are in obvious contrast to the maps of "The Late War" and a broadsheet "The Life of Johnny Tyler" on the wall behind Taylor. At Taylor's knee sits a bloodhound with a collar marked "Florida," a reminder of Taylor's controversial use of bloodhounds in the Second Seminole War. To the right two black youths polish Taylor's weapons. The first, kneeling and wiping a pistol, says, "By golly! Massa Taylor like fighting better then him dinner." The other, cleaning a sword, claims, "Dis am de knife wot massa use to cut up de Mexijins wid." In the center of the floor are a group of toy soldiers and a cannon.|Probably drawn by E.F. Durang.|Published by Peter E. Abel & Durang, Philada.|Sold by Turner & Fisher, N. York & Philada.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 95.|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 1848-44.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
Sub Treasurers Meeting In England
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A satire on corruption among Tammany officeholders in New York, showing absconded former Collector of the Port Samuel Swartwout and federal District Attorney William M. Price in London. The massive fraud and embezzlement by the two officials was exposed in late November 1838 and was used in the Whig press as an indictment of Van Buren's "Sub-Treasury" or independent treasury program. (See also "Price Current," no. 1838-21). Swartwout fled to Europe and was soon followed by Price. In the print the two men embrace, Swartwout (on the left) concealing a purse marked $1,500,000 and Price concealing one marked $1,200,000. (Various inflated estimates of the two men's take were cited early in the investigation.) On a wall at left is a poster for the Theatre Royal, featuring "First appearance From U. S. America. New Way to Pay Old Debts. Raising the Wind. Catch him who can." These names echo Elizabethan and Jacobean drawma titles. Swartout says: Welcome thou pearl of wondrous "Price."/ Thou oracle of Tammany Hall./ I hope you've got a handsome slice./ Since I've in motion put the ball. Price answers: Of Ex Collectors you're the man/ I wear within my heart of hearts;/ From pure regard, all that I can/ I've done and come to foreign parts:/ And though defaulter I may be/ & cause my party great regret./ Fees (when in Office) due to me,/ Will fairly balance all my debt.|Entd . . . 1838 by H.R. Robinson.|Printed & publd. by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt & 11-1/2 Wall St. N.Y.|The print was registered for copyright on December 14, 1838.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 54.|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 1838-20.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/13/2013
Sub Treasurers Taking Long Steps, Or The Magician Broke Down
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in 1838 by H.R. Robinson, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the U.S. for the Southern District of N.Y. Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt & 11 1/2 Wall St. N.Y.|Signed in stone: Grinnell del.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
Sub-Treasury System, Or office Holders Elysium
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Public Domain
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Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St., 11 1/2 Wall Street. & 38 Chatham Strt. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
Symptoms of A Duel
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Public Domain
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The second of two particularly well-drawn caricatures by the same artist, on the subject of the 1839 congressional probe of Van Buren's Treasury Department. (See above, nos. 1839-6 through -9.) The inquiry was prompted by the Swartwout embezzlement scandal. "Symptoms of a Duel" must have appeared early in 1839, since the committee's final reports were tabled by the House on February 27. Here Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury (left) aims a pistol at investigative committee chairman James Harlan, a bespectacled man who scrutinizes him through a small telescope labeled "Committee of Investigation." Harlan carries several telescopes and optical instruments with his own name and those of Whig members of the committee Edward Curtis and David Douglas Wagener. His largest telescope bears the name of the committee's most vocal member, "Henry A. Wise maker Washington. Night and Day." Harlan addresses Wise (not visible but offstage to the right), "Heavens! Wise. How he looks thro' this glass!" Wise: "Black, or Blue!" Harlan: "Both!" Woodbury's pistol bears the names of Francis Thomas and Samuel Cushman, Democratic members of the committee. Woodbury says "I "challenge" Scrutiny!" The unidentified artist's drawing style, his handling of the figures, and his relatively spare compositions strongly suggest common authorship with "Called to Account" and "Abolition Frowned Down" (nos. 1839-11 and -12). Weitenkampf erroneously identifies Woodbury here as Van Buren.|"Printed & publd. by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt & 11-1/2 Wall St. N.Y."|Drawn by HD?|Entd. . . . 1839 by H.R. Robinson.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 57.|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 1839-10.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/13/2013
Symptoms of A Locked Jaw. Plain Sewing Done Here
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Public Domain
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The caricature reflects the bitter antagonism between Kentucky senator Henry Clay and President Andrew Jackson, during the protracted battle over the future of the Bank of the United States from 1832 through 1836. The print may relate specifically to Clay's successful 1834 campaign to exclude from the Senate journal Jackson's statement of protest against Congressional censure of his earlier actions on the Bank. Clay is shown restraining a seated, uniformed Jackson and sewing up his mouth. From Clay's pocket protrudes a slip of paper reading, "cure for calumny." Below the image is a quote from Shakespeare's "Hamlet," ". . . Clay might stop a hole, to keep the wind away." On the wall behind him are the words "Plain sewing done here."|Signed: DCJ (David Claypoole Johnston).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Century, p. 44. |Johnson, no. 147.|Murrell, p. 120.|Weitenkampf, p. 34.|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 1834-10.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
The Tables Turned
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Public Domain
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Cartoon shows Chinese laundrymen and fishmongers making gifts to a man imprisoned in House of Correction cell 181. They offer socks with holes, a fish inscribed "Black Friday," crabs, and cigars.|Printed below title: You sabe him! Kealney must go! (You save him! Kearney must go!)|Publ. by I.N. Choynski, antiquarian.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|DLC/PP-1980:143|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/13/2013
The Telegraphic Candidates
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Public Domain
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In a race between the railroad and the telegraph the "telegraphic candidates," Lewis Cass and William O. Butler, are first to the White House. The artist ridicules Zachary Taylor for his hazy stance on major campaign issues and manages a jibe at the "dead letter" affair as well. (See "The Candidate of Many Parties," no. 1848-24.) Other presidential candidates Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, and a third (possibly John P. Hale) are also in the race, traveling in a small boat, on a horse, and in a wheelbarrow respectively. Taylor and his running mate Millard Fillmore ride a locomotive "Non-Comittal. No Principles." along a track toward the White House (left). Taylor (seated on the engine): "Why Fill, my boy, we must be on the wrong track!" Fillmore (in the cab): "Yes, but if you hadn't dealt so much in the Mail line, it would have been all right!" The "Mail line" is a reference to the dead letter affair. Above them, Cass and Butler walk across telegraphic wires to enter a window of the White House. Cass, holding a sword (a memento of his 1812 military service), declares "I seek the people's eternal happiness!" Butler, holding onto Cass's coattail and thumbing his nose, yells back to Taylor "Zack, for old acquaintance sake I should like you to have been on the right side." Butler, like Taylor, served as a general in the Mexican War. Butler also taunts Van Buren, who ambles along on a scrawny horse at the far right, "O, Marty how are greens?" Van Buren (in a mock-Dutchman's accent): "O, mine got! Shonny! we pe a great deal mush pehind our time!" To the right of the train is a wheelbarrow from which protrude the legs and arms of another contestant, probably Liberty party candidate John P. Hale. A black man, representing abolitionism, lies on the ground beside the cart. Hale: "You d--d lazy niger get up and push along or we shall never get there!" Abolition: "De lor bless us all, me satisfy I go sleepey!" Henry Clay, in a sinking boat on the left, laments, "A pretty pass affairs have come to!" Samuel F. B. Morse had installed the first telegraphic line, linking Baltimore and Washington, in 1844. While still a novelty in 1848, the line may have a metaphorical significance in "The Telegraphic Candidates--&1as the symbolic path between Baltimore, where Cass and Butler were nominated, and Washington. The print must have appeared in the summer of 1848, between the May convention, which nominated Cass and Butler, and Hale's withdrawal from the race in August. Weitenkampf cites a version of the print in the New York Historical Society with the title "Popular Conveyances, or Telegraphic Dispatches for the White House."|Signed in reverse: E.F.D. (E.F. Durang).|Sold by Turner & Fisher, N.Y. & Philada.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 93.|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 1848-41.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
Temple of Liberty
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Public Domain
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A crude allegorical woodcut, bold in design and probably produced for a banner or similar type of display. In the center is a peristyle Temple with an altar on which the figure of Liberty rises from a flame. The figure holds the "Bill of Rights," a staff and a liberty cap. The altar is inscribed "Preserved by Concord." To the left is a man with a horse, offering wheat; on the right an Indian with a buck deer offers an animal pelt. Behind the temple are thirteen stars. Above is an eagle with shield, olive branch and lightning bolts, and a streamer with the slogan "The Union Must and Shall Be Preserved." Two pedestals with figures flank the image. On the far left is Justice, on the right Minerva. |Copyrighted by Jared Bell, New York, 1834.|The print was deposited for copyright by Jared Bell in the District Court of the Southern District of New York on April 2, 1834.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|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 1834-2.|Exhibited in: Creating the United States, Library of Congress, 2008.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/13/2013
Terrible Rout & Total Destruction of The Whig Party. In Salt River
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Public Domain
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The 1852 Democratic victory under the standard of Franklin Pierce is foreseen as a debacle for the Whig party, led by Winfield Scott. Pierce (center) sits on his horse, holding aloft a banner bearing his and running mate William R. King's names. His troops rally around him--the party rank and file. Scott's forces are in chaos, routed into Salt River, the figurative stream of political disaster. Holding aloft a shredded banner, Scott (center) rides into the water with supporter William Seward holding tight to his horse's neck. Scott says, "Just as I expected, we relied too much on fuss and smoke, and have lost the battle, yet bravely hand in hand together, Seaward (Seward) we go, my Friend, my Brother." To the left, a uniformed man, either William R. King or Illinois Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, boots Whig incumbent president Millard Fillmore into the river, saying, "I like consistency & have ever been in favor of the improvement of Rivers and Harbours. Slide in!" Fillmore laments, "I dont know why they kick me. I'm sure I'm nobody!" In the lower left corner, the feet of abolitionist editor Horace Greeley protrude from the water. In the center, Lewis Cass fires a pistol at Daniel Webster, whose rump, labeled "Chowder" for his New England background, is just disappearing into the water. "Ah what glorious sport," cries Cass, taunting Webster about his diplomatic record, "how now Webster! backing down on guano. fishing for Cod! eh! feel dry! take mine warm. want any powder, give you some ball!" A man to the right of Cass prods at a floating body with a bayonet. Another man, further right, has just forced an unidentified Whig into the water, saying, "There's nothing like water to wash out Stains!" The comic characterizations and style of draftsmanship are unquestionably John L. Magee's, comparing closely with signed works such as "The Game Cock and the Goose" and "A Magnificent Offer to a Magnificent Officer" (nos. 1852-18 and 1852-27).|Drawn by John L. Magee.|For sale at 124 Nassau St., New York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 109-110.|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 1852-26.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/13/2013
Texas Coming In
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
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0.0 stars

A pro-Democrat cartoon forecasting the collapse of Whig opposition to the annexation of Texas. James K. Polk, the expansionist candidate, stands at right near a bridge spanning "Salt River." He holds an American flag and hails Texans Stephen Austin (left) and Samuel Houston aboard a wheeled steamboat-like vessel "Texas." Austin, waving the flag of the Lone Star Republic, cries, "All hail to James K. Polk, the frined [sic] of our Country!" The Texas boat has an eagle figurehead and a star on its prow. Below the bridge pandemonium reigns among the foes of annexation. Holding onto a rope attached to "Texas" above, they are dragged into Salt River. Led by Whig presidential nominee Henry Clay, they are (left to right) Theodore Frelinghuysen, Daniel Webster, Henry A. Wise, and an unidentified figure whose legs are tangled in the rope. Clay: "Curse the day that ever I got hold of this rope! this is a bad place to let go of it--But I must!" Frelinghuysen: "Oh evil day, that ever I got into the footsteps of my predecessor." Webster: "If we let go, we are ruined, and if we hold on--Oh! crackee!" Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, straddling a barrel labeled "Abolition" in the river, shouts at Clay, "Avaunt! unholy man! I will not keep company with a blackleg!" referring to the candidate's reputation as a gambler.|Entered . . . 1844 by James Baillie.|Lithograph and print coloring on reasonable terms by James Baillie No. 33 Spruce St. New York.|Signed: H. Bucholzer.|The Library's impression was deposited for copyright on June 28, 1844.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 83.|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 1844-28.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
Things As They Are
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
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Perkins's grim picture of conditions in the goldfields of California during the 1849 Gold Rush contains a backhanded swipe at the outgoing Polk administration. In the foreground, violence breaks out against a backdrop of hills in the "Gold Region." On the left a man cuts the throat of another over a sack of gold, while beyond and farther to the left appear a man carrying a sack and another fallen victim. At far right two men spar with daggers, one of them evidently a Mexican or Spanish Californian, who declares, "Clear you D--d Foreigner our law is the law of might." Meanwhile, apparently oblivious to the mayhem, other men go about the search for gold. A man with a kerchief around his forehead calmly sifts a pan over a barrel or tub. Behind him another man with a flintlock slung across his back digs into the side of a small rise, and a third, wearing a smock, shovels ore into a wooden sieve. Visible above, beyond the hills, is the U.S. Capitol, on whose lawn stands newly elected President Zachary Taylor. In uniform with his hands behind his back, Taylor watches former President James K. Polk and five of his officers, in the form of birds, fly away toward California. They are armed with pickaxes and the spoils of office. Polk, in the lead, carries a sack marked "Secret Service 3,000,000 [i.e., dollars]" and declares, "The happiest days of my administration. We will take unto ourselves the wings of the morning and depart into the depths of California." Taylor addresses a man who aims a cannon at the flock of birds, "Hold on Capt Bragg 'Dont' waste your Gอัrape.' it is nothing but a "Shide-Polk." Our extra Session shall regulate "California."" These lines echo his famous and decisive order at the Battle of Buena Vista, "A little more grape Captain Bragg." Bragg responds, "As you say General but by G-d! I'd like to make him smell of Buena-Vista." Nearby is the "High Road to California" and a grave marker reading, "In Memory of the Shide-"Poke" Administration. Died 4 M[ar]ch 1849," the customary inauguration date.|Henry Serrell & S. Lee Perkins Lith & Pub 75 Nassau St. N.Y.|Signed: Perkins|Sold by Robert H. Elton 90 Nassau St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 98.|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 1849-3.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
This Is The House That Jack Built
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
Rating
0.0 stars

The Van Buren administration's record, particularly with regard to the handling of public finances, is condemned as corrupt and a perpetuation of unpopular Jacksonian policies. The artist echoes perennial Whig charges of the Democrats' disregard for the Constitution and their autocratic style of governing. The nursery rhyme theme of "The House that Jack built" employed here was also used in several earlier cartoons. (See nos. 1820-1 and 1833-6.) Murrell also reproduces an earlier and somewhat similar E. W. Clay version of the "House that Jack built," probably dating from the bank wars of around 1834. Here, the "House" is Jackson's subtreasury system, represented above by a banking house interior whose floor rests on "Constitutional Currency," and whose cellar stocked with empty boxes. The scene appears in a cloud of smoke, which comes from the pipes of Andrew Jackson (on the left) and advisor and publicist Amos Kendall (on the right). Kendall's pipe also blows bubbles, symbolizing vanity or idle schemes. Nine verses from the nursery rhyme and corresponding satirical scenes appear below. 1. "This is the Malt that laid in the House that Jack built." The scene shows crates labeled "Post Office Revenue," "Public Land Sales," "Custom House," "Bonds," and "Pension Fund," suggestive of administration graft and intrigues in a cellar. 2. "This is the Rat that eat the Malt . . ." shows Van Buren's Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury as a rat. 3. "This is the Cat that caught the Rat . . ." shows Daniel Webster as a cat toying with Woodbury. 4. "This is the Dog That worried the Cat, . . ." has Thomas Hart Benton as a dog threatening the cat Webster, who is now standing on a book "Constitution" atop a chair. 5. "This is the Cow, Whit the crumpled Horn, That tossed the Dog . . ." shows Henry Clay as a cow tossing Benton aloft. 6. "This is the Maiden all forlorn, That milked the Cow, . . ." John C. Calhoun as a milkmaid laments over a spilled bucket "Nullification" as the cow runs away with a sheet marked "Tariff." The reference is to Calhoun's role in the nullification crisis of 1832-33, and Clay's compromise tariff which temporarily resolved the conflict. 7. "This is the Man, all tattered and torn, That kissed the Maiden . . ." has Martin Van Buren in old Dutch clothing, wheeling a barrow of cabbages, saying "Here's your fine Kinderhook Early York Kabbitches." (Van Buren's home was in Kinderhook, New York.) 8. "This is the Priest all shaven and shorn, That married the Man . . ." Washington "Globe" editor Francis Preston Blair in liturgical vestment presides over the wedding of Calhoun and Van Buren, ridiculing the unlikely political alliance forged in 1840. 9. "This is the Cock of the walk, that crowed in the morn, That waked the Priest all shaven and shorn, . . ." A rooster with the head of William Henry Harrison stands on a globe "Ohio" as the sun rises behind it.|Davison lists a version of the print with the Childs address at 90 Nassau Street.|Entered . . . 1840 by John Childs.|Pub. by John Childs 119 Fulton St. New York.|Signed with monogram: EWC (Edward Williams Clay).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Davison, no. 155.|Murrell, p. 141 (earlier version).|Weitenkampf, p. 62-63.|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 1840-48.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013
"This Is The House That Jack Built . . ."
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
Rating
0.0 stars

A crudely-drawn, anonymous satire on the Jackson Administration, alleging political intrigue behind Jackson's September 1833 decision to remove federal deposits from the Bank of the United States. The cartoon adapts the nursery rhyme "The House that Jack built," portraying the Kitchen Cabinet (the derisive name given Jackson's informal circle of influential advisors) as rats "that eat the malt that lay in the house that Jack built" -- the malt being "The public Deposits." (For an earlier use of the same rhyme see "Parody. 605,000 Sour Grapes," no. 1820-1.) The view is framed by a colonnade, with the columns of the Bank visible at left. Between each pair of columns is a character from the nursery rhyme. Treasury Secretary William J. Duane is the cat "That caught the rats," possibly referring to Duane's opposition to Jackson's plan for removal of the deposits. Jackson, the dog "That worried the Cat," sits on a strong box with a key hanging from his neck. (Jackson dismissed Duane from his post for his intransigence on the Bank issue on September 23, 1833). The Senate is the cow "with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog" referring the stiff opposition Jackson's measures later met from the Senate. "The honorable ******" (possibly Silas Wright, Van Buren ally and staunch advocate of Jackson's bank policies in Congress, or Richard M. Johnson, Van Buren's 1836 vice-presidential running-mate) as the maiden "all forlorn, That milked the Cow" and was kissed by "the man all tattered and torn," Vice-President Martin Van Buren. Van Buren stands before a grandfather clock with a figure of Pan holding a fiddle, symbolizing chaos and turmoil. Newspaper editor and Jackson supporter Francis Preston Blair is the priest "That married the man, all tattered and torn, unto the Maiden all forlorn." Major Jack Downing, portrayed as a soldier with the head of a rooster and holding a flag reading "Jackson & Glory," is the cock "That crowed in the morn, and soured the priest..." In the foreground left, below the Jackson/dog figure, a boar tears apart the Constitution. The artist here echoes charges that Jackson exceeded his legitimate presidential authority in his removal order. The print was probably issued late in 1833, after Duane's dismissal by Jackson, and before the former sank from national visibility altogether. It may date from as late as the first half of 1834, when public debate about Jackson's removal action raged in the Senate.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf describes two similar cartoons, based on the same nursery rhyme. In one version, drawn by E. W. Clay and published in 1834, the maiden carries a pail marked "Vice President Office," and curiously (as in the present print) her face is averted from view.|Murrell, p. 149-152 (Clay version).|Weitenkampf, p. 34-35.|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 1833-6.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/13/2013
This Log Cabin Was The First Building Erected On The North Bend . . .
Unrestricted Use
Public Domain
Rating
0.0 stars

A Whig campaign print, showing William Henry Harrison greeting a wounded veteran before a log cabin by a river. The cabin flies an American flag with the words "Harrison & Tyler" and with a liberty cap on its staff. A coonskin is tacked to the side of the cabin, two barrels of hard cider stand by, and a farmer ploughs a field in the distance. The text below the image describes the scene: "This Log Cabin "was the first building erected on the North Bend of the beautiful Ohio River, with the barrel of cider outside and the door always open to the traveller. The wounded soldier is one of" Gen. Harrison's comrades, "meeting him after his celebrated Victory of Tippecanoe and not only does the brave old Hero give his comrade a hearty welcome, but his dog recognizes him as an old acquaintance, and repeats the welcome by a cordial and significant shake of his tail! If the looker-on will only watch close enough he can see the tail absolutely shake in the picture, particularly on a clear day, and if it is held due East and West, so, as to feel the power of the" magnetic attraction "from the Great West." The closing statement is a reference to Harrison's broad base of support in the western United States.|Lith. & published by Thomas Sinclair, no. 79 S. Third St. Phila.|Signed: J.T.F. (probably John T. French).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|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 1840-17.

Subject:
History
U.S. History
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Primary Source
Provider:
Library of Congress
Provider Set:
Library of Congress - Cartoons 1766-1876
Date Added:
06/08/2013