A satire on the Whig party's anti-annexation platform. The question of whether or not to annex Texas was a large issue separating candidates in the 1844 campaign. Annexation's serious implications for the future of slavery in the United States polarized voters between Polk, who supported it, and Clay, who opposed it. Texas, personified as an elegant and beautiful young woman holding a cornucopia filled with flowers, stands between presidential candidates Clay and Polk. Polk (left) doffs his hat and takes her hand saying, "Welcome, sister, Your Valor has won you liberty and independence, and you have fairly won the right to be identified with 'the land of the brave, and the home of the free.'" She replies, "Shall the slanders that have been urged against your sister, sever those whose blood flows from the same fountain?" George M. Dallas, standing to the left of Polk, comments, "Slandered as she is, let him that is without sin, cast the first stone at her!" Clay (at right, arms folded) piously says, "Stand back, Madam Texas! for we are more holy than thou! Do you think we will have anything to do with gamblers, horse-racers, and licentious profligates?" A Quaker (and possibly an abolitionist) taps Clay on the shoulder and reminds him, "Softly, Softly, friend Harry. Thou hast mentioned the very reason that we cannot Vote for thee!" |Entered . . . 1844 by James Baillie.|Lith & pub. by James Baillie 33 Spruce St. N.Y.|Signed: H. Bucholzer.|The Library's impression was deposited for copyright on June 26, 1844.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 78.|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 1844-27.

A crudely drawn but bitter attack on Andrew Jackson's veto of the re-charter of the Bank of the United States and his subsequent campaign to destroy the Bank. Jackson (right) is a king fiddling on his throne as the Capitol burns in the background. He is attended by Jack Downing, while Vice-President Martin Van Buren peeps out from behind a curtain. Downing: "Jineral jest put a letel more Veto Rosin on your bow and you'ill give us a rale Nero-Doodle of a tune. That are fiddle jineral sound like your intarpitation of the Constitution. you can play ener most any tune you like on it." Jackson: "D-mn the Constitution Major. It is where it ought to be, Under my Feet." Van Buren: "Safety Fun." Before him is a strong chest labelled "30,000,000 Crowns" Beside it kneel three men, the "Reptiles that crawl through their own Slime to the Throne of Power." Beside them is a headstone inscribed "Sacred to the Memory of Dame Freedom, born July 4, 1776 and departed this life Oct.1 1833 A.E [sic]. . ." A crowd of "Kitchen Scullions & Pat-riots" with asses' ears mill about in the background, cheering for Jackson. They represent Jackson's close circle of advisors, the so-called "Kitchen Cabinet," and his lower-class and often unruly Irish immigrant (ergo "Pat-riots") supporters. At lower left stands John Bull, who says, "Ha-ha Brother Jonathan might as well hang up his fiddle, and not go bragging all over the world about his Freedom." A text below is a mock report of the murder of Dame Freedom by "Andrew Veto" and the "Color Presses," (i.e. "collar presses" or pro-Jackson newspapers) including the "Globe, Albany Argus, Richmond Enquirer," and others, and the robbery of the earnings of the "Sons of Freedom." |Entered . . . 1834 by E. Bisbee.|From Jineral Jackson's big picter, draw'd off from nater by Zek Downing, Historical Painter to Uncle Jack & Jineral Jackson.|Published by E. Bisbee, 95 Canal St. New-York.|The print was deposited by Bisbee for copyright on February 1, 1834, along with a later version of "Troubled Treasures" (no. 1833-5). Both prints bear a close resemblance in style to "The Political Barbecue" (no. 1834-9), and were probably drawn by the same hand.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 35-36.|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 1834-8.

An illustrated cover for a patriotic song sheet. The iconography of the illustration, like the song, has militaristic overtones. On a large shield in the center of the composition perches an eagle. Rays of light and several flags radiating from behind. Cannonballs, sabers, a drum, bugles, banners, and a soldier's pack and satchel, lies on the ground before it.|Entered . . . 1859 by Firth, Pond & Co.|Lith. by Sarony, Major & Knapp, 449 Broadway N.Y.|New York. Published by Firth, Pond & Co. 547 Broadway.|The Library's impression of the cover was deposited for copyright on June 10, 1859.|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 1859-1.

A satire on Southern recruitment efforts during the early part of the Civil War. In a scene before a Confederate encampment, a reluctant civilian (center) is presented with a musket and military coat by two veteran soldiers, one wearing an absurdly tall fur hat. The recruit is restrained from behind by another officer. In the background left a troop of recruits drill; on the right two blacks soldiers, one with rolled pantlegs and military coat, look on with amusement. |Printed and copyrighted by Ehrgott & Forbriger, Cincinnati.|The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright on July 8, 1861, by the Cincinnati lithographic firm of Ehrgott & Forbriger. It is clearly by the same unidentified artist as two other prints by Ehrgott & Forbriger, "Strayed" and "Ye Conference" (nos. 1861-31 and 1861-32). Two additional prints, not owned by the Library but cited by Weitenkampf, are also listed in the copyright records as Ehrgott & Forbriger registrations. They are "That Feed Won't Do" and ""Wait 'Till the War Is Over."" The copyright imprint, which appears on an impression of "Volunteering Down Dixie" cited by Weitenkampf, appears to have been rubbed or scraped from the Library's impression.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 132.|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 1861-33.

A scornful portrayal of the poor caliber of American volunteers for the Mexican War. The print evidently appeared at the outset of the conflict, as the Library's impression was deposited for copyright on May 13, the day on which President Polk signed the proclamation of war. News of Gen. Zachary Taylor's initial engagement with enemy troops near the Rio Grande River first reached Washington on Saturday, May 9, prompting mass enlistments for the popular cause of protecting the newly annexed Texas territory. A large percentage of the enlistees were Irish immigrants, most of them inexperienced militarily. The artist shows an awkward group of volunteers standing at attention before a young, chinless, and obviously untested officer who regards them through a monocle. The officer is dressed in a neat uniform, while all but one of the volunteers wear civilian clothes. The sole enlistee in uniform holds a parasol instead of a musket.|Entered . . . 1846 by Thomas Odham.|Lith. F. & S. Palmer 45 Ann Street, N.Y.|Signed with monogram: FP (Frances Palmer).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 88.|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 1846-5.

An illustrated sheet music cover, which protests the inequities of the draft or proscription system enacted under the Enrollment Act of 1863. The act allowed drafted men to purchase an exemption or to furnish a surrogate or "substitute" in lieu of their own service. The unfairness of the measure to the economically disadvantaged is dramatized in the illustration to this piece, showing the bust portrait of one man, "I'm drafted," in contrast to that of an obviously more well-to-do young man, "I aint."|Boston. Copyrighted by Oliver Ditson & Co.|The Library's impression of the cover was deposited for copyright on September 29, 1863.|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 1863-13.

Another cartoon relating to the dispute between the United States and Great Britain over the northern boundary of American territory in Oregon. Opinion was sharply divided between support for a compromise claim of territory as far north as the forty-ninth parallel, and those who went for the more expansive 4.40 boundary. Palmer has two Irish immigrants disputing the issue. Wearing overalls, suspenders, boots, and stovepipe hats, the characters stand outside the Bowery Theater. (The Bowery section of New York City was known for its concentration of working-class Irish.) The man on the left says, "Ike! say the 49th & let's settle it amercably." The other responds, "No Sir-ree I goes for the hull of Oregon or none--I do & don't do nor-thin else." In the background, a woman sells apples and what look like nuts at a table. Behind her the theater's billboard advertises "Great Attraction. Adelgis. J.R. Scott. Cony & Blanchard."|Entered . . . 1846 by Thomas Odham.|Lith. F. & S. Palmer - 43 Ann Street N. York|Signed: F.P. (Frances Palmer).|The Library's impression was deposited for copyright on April 25, 1846.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 86.|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 1846-4.

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

Possibly by Henry Dacre.|Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, no. 52 Cortlandt St. N.Y.|Signed in plate: HD.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

An election-year cartoon satirizing disharmony within the Whig ranks on the bank issue. The artist suggests a division of opinion between New England's Daniel Webster and presidential nominee Henry Clay on the idea of a National Bank, embodied here by a giant whale. Clay strongly championed the bank idea throughout his senatorial career. On a stormy sea, the "coon barge" (named for Clay's campaign nickname "the Old Coon"), flying an inverted, tattered American flag from a broken mast, is steered by Daniel Webster. Webster's crew is in the act of heaving Henry Clay and his running-mate Theodore Frelinghuysen overboard. Frelinghuysen, "the Christian statesman" and president of the American Tract Society, wears a clerical robe. Webster enjoins them, "Throw 'em over, my Boys. It is better they should go than that the whole Whig party should perish!" Clay, looking down the throat of a whale labeled "Monster Bank," cries, "Oh! crackee! this is the worst suck in that even I knew of, Instead of being able to suck in the people. I am going to be sucked in myself!" Frelinghuysen exclaims, "Oh dear! I am going to be swallowed! I wish I had not given up psalm singing for Politics!"|Entered . . . 1844 by J. Baillie.|Litho. & pubd. by J Baillie 118 Nassau St. N.Y.|Probably drawn by Edward Williams Clay.|The print probably appeared late in the campaign, since the Library's impression was deposited for copyright on October 11, 1844.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 77.|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 1844-46.

Horace Greeley's famous and widely ridiculed 1871 pamphlet "What I Know of Farming" provided the pretext for the title here. With the tail and cloven hoof of a devil Greeley (center) leads a small band of Liberal Republicans in pursuit of incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant and his supporters. Greeley heralds "General Amnesty," echoing his campaign pledge of amnesty for former Confederates. He is followed by his running mate Benjamin Gratz Brown (with a long beard) who calls for "Reduction of Taxes." Next follows bespectacled Missouri Republican leader Carl Schurz, who carries a flag "Reconciliation," and Massachusetts senator and civil rights advocate Charles Sumner who demands "Equal Rights to All." Grant, holding a liquor bottle, and his three companions flee to the left. One of them is Benjamin F. Butler, who grasps three silver spoons. (For the significance of Butler's spoons, see "The Radical Party on a Heavy Grade," no. 1868-14.) The man at far left is probably former New York senator Roscoe Conkling, a zealous supporter of Grant's administration and programs. Grant cries, "Let us have Peace," an 1868 campaign slogan.|Entered . . . 1872 by Morton Toulmin.|Signed: "M.T." and "Fizzle Gig."|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 1872-9.

The opposition of Northern abolitionists, churchmen, and political figures to enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is criticized in this rare pro-Southern cartoon. In two panels artist Edward Williams Clay illustrates the abolitionist's invocation of a "higher law" against the claim of a slave owner, and the application of the same principle against the Northerner in a case of stolen textiles. In the left panel a slaveholder "Mr. Palmetto" and a federal marshal confront an abolitionist "Mr. Pumpkindoodle" and a garishly dressed, runaway slave "Pompey" in a warehouse or shop interior. On the counter is a copy of the newspaper the "Emancipator." Palmetto: ". . . I've come here to take that fugitive slave who belongs to me, according to the provisions of the U. S. law! Officer do your duty!" Pumpkindoodle (handing a pistol to the slave): "What! seize my African brother! never! I dont recognize any U.S. law! I have a higher law, a law of my own. here Pompey take this pistol and resist to the death! if he attempts to take you!" Pompey (trembling): "Ye yes sa! I'll try, cause brudders [antislavery senator from New York William H.] Seward and [abolitionist William Lloyd] Garrison says its all right; and so does Parson Squash! But I'm mighty feared." Federal marshal: "Whew! I think I'd better make myself scarce!" In the panel on the right, the same abolitionist approaches the seated slaveholder in the latter's shop. A sturdy slave "Cesar" and a grinning attendant stand by. On the counter are several bolts of fabric, labeled "Bay State Shawls," "Cotton Shirting," "Domestic Prints," "Amoskeag Ticks," "Lowels Negro Cloth" and "Hamilton Long Cloth." A copy of the "Charleston Mercury" lies open on Palmetto's lap. Pumpkindoodle: "Look here Mr. Palmetto them 'ere goods is mine! They've been stole from me, and if you dont give 'em up, I'll take the law of the land on you!" Palmetto: ". . . They are fugitives from you, are they? As to the law of the land, I have a higher law of my own, and possession is nine points in the law. I cant cotton to you. Kick out the abolitionist Cesar." Cesar: "Of course Massa. De dam Bobolitionist is the wus enemy we poor niggers have got." |Entered . . . 1851 by E.W. Clay . . . Southern District of N.Y.|Pub. at 152 Nassau St. corner of Spruce N.Y.|Signed with initials: E.W.C. (Edward Williams Clay).|The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright on January 22, 1851.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Century, p. 70.|Weitenkampf, p. 103.|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 1851-5.

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

Publd. by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. N-York. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1837 by H.R. Robinson, in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

A severe split within the Whig ranks, between partisans of Henry Clay and those of Zachary Taylor, preceded the party's convention in June 1848. Here Horace Greeley, one of Clay's most influential northern supporters, tries to drive the party wagon downhill toward "Salt River" (a contemporary idiom for political doom). At the same time, a Brother Jonathan or Uncle Sam figure steers in the opposite direction, toward the White House. Greeley whips his horse, a scrawny nag with the head of Henry Clay, with a switch or small branch; the uphill-bound horse has Taylor's head, and its driver wields a carriage whip. The cart is laden with papers marked "Tariff," "Bank," and "Internal Improvements," traditional catchwords of Whig politics. Greeley: "It's of no use to talk to me, for Mr. Clay says he would rather be right than to be President, and that is the policy I am adopting now." Brother Jonathan: "Do slack up a little there, Horace, till we get over a chock that some one has put before the wheel." The "chock" that the cart has run into is a rock marked "Wilmot Proviso," placed in the road by Congressman David Wilmot. The question of the validity of the proviso, an 1846 proposal to prohibit slavery in territories acquired during the Mexican War, became an important issue in the 1848 campaign, and a stumbling block to candidates like Taylor who courted Southern support. The proviso was never passed by the Senate.|Entered . . . 1848 by J. Baillie.|Published by James Baillie, 87th St. near 3rd Avenue, New York.|Signed in reverse: H.B. (H. Bucholzer).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Lorant, p. 189.|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 1848-21.

Sheet music cover for a campaign march for Democrats Horatio Seymour and Francis P. Blair, Jr. The oval bust portraits of the men are framed by oak leaves. The same New Orleans publisher issued another, anti-Grant campaign print, "Let Us Have Pease, Ha, Ha" (no. 1868-12). |Lith. H. Wehrmann, N.O.|Published by A.E. Blackmar, New Orleans: Canal Str. and New York: 651 Broadway.|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 1868-5.

The artist belittles the Democrats' relatively undistinguished choice for presidential nominee in 1852, Franklin Pierce. The cartoon is based on Aesop's fable about the mountain which, being in labor, groaned so dreadfully as to arouse the attention of multitudes of onlookers, only to send forth a small mouse. Aesop so reproved those who through rumors, promises, and other great pretentions raise the expectations of mankind only to disappoint by meager performance. The cartoonist's analogy is to the Baltimore Democratic Convention of June 1852, which selected Pierce, a relatively obscure New Hampshireman, as its presidential nominee. Pierce, as a mouse, scurries from a small hole at the base of New Hampshire's White Mountains at right. At the lower left a bobcat, Whig candidate Winfield Scott, crouches behind the rocks, saying, "Come this way, my little fellow, I'm watching for you!" At right, a swan representing Free Democratic candidate John P. Hale floats by on a stream. In the background, on the far side of the mountains is a crowd of men, the "Baltimore Convention." One declares, "After all, this is rather a small affair of ours!" Another replies, "Very true: and there is the more necessitty for making great noise about one little mouse." "White Mountains in Labour" probably appeared in late summer or early autumn 1852, since Hale was not nominated until the Free Democrats' August convention.|Pubd. by John Childs, 84 Nassau St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 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 1852-11.

A pro-Democrat satire, pitting Democratic candidate Lewis Cass against Whig nominee Zachary Taylor in a bout for the presidency. Cass (center) is the obvious favorite. He wears the stovepipe hat, boots, bold plaid trousers, and soap-locks associated with New York street toughs (or "Bowery B'hoys"). On the front of Cass's shirt is an emblem with the initials "U.S." He grasps Taylor by the hair declaring, "I'm one of the B-Hoys, and I woudn't be anything else!" Taylor, also dressed as a rowdy, cries, "O, enough! I surrender for the first time!" Cass has already dispatched a black man "Abolition," who sits in a basket at the far left, Free Soil candidate Martin Van Buren, on the ground at left, and Whig vice presidential candidate, Millard Fillmore, on the ground at right with a black eye. Abolition: "De lor' have mercy on our souls!" Van Buren: "Johnny [i.e., John Van Buren] come and help your Old Dad!" Fillmore: "Curse the Old hoss wot a south paw he has given me!" At far right, seated on a fire hydrant or standpipe, is Cass's running mate William O. Butler who cheers Cass on saying: "I Say Lewy give him a sockdolger!"|Probably drawn by E.F. Durang.|Sold by Turner and Fisher, New York & Philada.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 91.|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 1848-42.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1837, by H.R. Robinson, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, of the Southern District of New York. Printed & published by H.R. Robinson 52 Cortlandt Street, New York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

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