Details
Title The deplorable state of America or Sc[otc]h government. [graphic].
Publisher [London] : [publisher not identified]
Publisher ENG. London. 1765
Date [March 22, 1765]
Physical Description 1 print : etching ; sheet 24 x 38 cm (9.5 x 15 in.)
Description Anti-Stamp Act cartoon using allegory to address the dire consequences of the tax to the American and British economy depicted as passed by a corrupt British government under the influence of Scotch minister Lord Bute. Depicts a seated Britannia offering the Stamp Act as a Pandora's Box to America, depicted as a Native American princess, who beseeches Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom, for advice. Minerva responds,"Take it Not," and points to Liberty prostrate at America's feet upon whom a viper slithers from under a Scotch thistle (i.e., an allusion to Bute, the unpopular advisor of George III, considered the ministry's prime agent of anti-American policy). Also includes Loyalty fearing the strength of his support, the Liberty Tree, which is being blown by an ill-wind and Mercury fleeing under the power of an illuminated boot (Lord Bute) to which the King of France offers a bribe to "pour fourth a baneful influence." In the background, on the American shore in sight of a gallows, Stamp Men (i.e., collectors) curse their job, as nearby, unemployed sailors stand near ships for sale as indicated by brooms attached to their masts.
Is referenced by British Museum 4119.
Murrell, Graphic Humour p. 24.
Notes Title from item.
Date of publication supplied by British Museum.
Inscribed lower right corner: Price 6 d.
Inscribed upper left corner: 2.
Advertised in The Gazeteer and New Daily Advertiser, January 2, 1766, p. 4.
Illustrated in The British Antidote to Caledonian Poison (London: J. Pridden, 1762-1766), vol. 5.
Described in Michael Wynn Jones's The Cartoon History of the American Revolution (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1976), p. 24.
Subject Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Minerva (Roman deity)
Great Britain. Stamp Act (1765)
Allegories.
Britannia (Symbolic character)
Commerce.
Indians of North America -- United States.
Indigenous peoples -- United States.
Liberty.
Pandora's box.
Wisdom.
Geographic subject United States -- Foreign economic relations -- Great Britain.
Great Britain -- Foreign economic relations -- United States.
United States -- Foreign relations -- 1775-1783.
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Causes.
Genre Political cartoons -- 1760-1770.
Etchings -- 1760-1770.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| political cartoons - 1765 Dep [P.9125]
Accession number P.9125