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Title: "Your plan and mine."
Description: Racist satire criticizing the 1864 presidential candidates, Democrat General George McClellan's and incumbent Abraham Lincoln's, divergent peace policies depicting each in a scene with Jefferson Davis and an African American Union soldier. The first scene depicts McClellan offering an olive branch, a frightened kneeling African American soldier, and a promise of non-interference to a scowling, armed Jefferson Davis, attired in torn and worn clothing. Davis acknowledges the branch, accepts the soldier, and expresses his satisfaction about the renewed ability for Southern domination of the government. The soldier, whose head Davis clutches, questions with horror McClellan's proposition to send him back to slavery after his service to the Union. The opposite scene depicts Lincoln pointing a bayonet at a cowering Davis who begs for readmission to the Union. Lincoln, on behalf of the nation, demands unconditional surrender and declares the end of slavery. The observing African American soldier replies in the vernacular that Davis will not have anything to do with him anymore., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress A.D. 1864, by Currier & Ives, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of N.Y., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of materials related to George McClellan and Abraham Lincoln. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Currier & Ives
Date: 1864
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1864-18W [5793.F.4]

Title: Worship of the North
Description: Graphic cartoon steeped in Confederate bitterness toward the "Republican" North depicting a scene of Northern idolatry of the African American. Worshippers near a mound of skulls surround a blood-stained altar upon which lies the shackled sacrificed body of American youth. The altar, with a bust of Lincoln dressed as a clown overhead, is constructed from Northern principles such as "Puritanism," "Free Love," and "Negro Worship." Behind the altar an African American man idol, barefoot and bare-chested and portrayed in racist caricature, sits upon the "Chicago Platform." Near the idol stands the statue of "St. Ossawattomi" (i.e., John Brown). The worshippers include General Scott, General Halleck and a loot-laden General Butler, as well as Secretary Edwin Stanton, John Fremont, a knife wielding Henry Ward Beecher, a torch carrying Charles Sumner, Horace Greeley with a censer, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, praying and kneeling atop a volume of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Printed in the top corners is "Ego.", Published in: Sketches from the Civil War in North America (London [i.e., Baltimore]: [the author], 1863-1864), pl. 1., Issued as plate 1 in Sketches from the Civil War in North America (London [i.e., Baltimore]: [the author], 1863-1864), a series of pro-Confederacy cartoons drawn and published by Baltimore cartoonist Adalbert John Volck under the pseudonym V. Blada. The "first issue" of 10 prints (numbered 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 12, 15, 16, 21, 24), with imprint "London, 1863" were printed as etchings. The remaining 20 prints (numbered 4, 8, 9-11, 14, 17-20, 23, 25-27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 40, 45) headed "Second and third issues of V. Blada's war sketches" and dated "London, July 30, 1864" were printed as lithographs., Title and publication information from series at Brown University Library., Accessioned 1979., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Aldabert Volck (1828-1912), i.e., V. Blada, was a prominent Southern cartoonist from Baltimore who is best known for his 1863 work "Sketches from the Civil War," later republished circa 1886 by Porter & Coates in Philadelphia under the title "Confederate War Etchings."
Creator: Volck, Adalbert John, 1828-1912, artist
Date: [1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1863 - Wor [P.2275.6]

Title: Whig equestrian exercises - ground and lofty tumbling
Description: Cartoon mocking 1852 Whig Presidential candidate General Winfield Scott, his abolitionist supporters, and the antithetical party platform. Shows the candidate and his supporters as performers at a horse circus. In the right, Scott, in uniform, struggles to straddle the horse "Slavery Compromise" (i.e., the Fugitive Slave Act) and "Tariff Free Soil" (i.e., prohibition of the extension of slavery) as his exclaims, “If the Southern horse don’t moderate his pace, I shall be down presently and break all my bones! Whoa! Whoa!" Nearby, abolitionist and New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, fearing he will not "strike on his feet this time" flips head-long into a "Tribune Dung Heap of Abuse and 'isms" next to the "Tribune Building" adorned with signs that promote Scott for president and "No journeyman cut throats." In the background, the "Higher Law Vaulters," advocates of New York Senator William Seward's 1850 quote that a higher law than the Constitution should exist in regard to slavery, jump over the horse "Constitution." Vaulters include Whig political boss Thurlow Weed, Seward, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and abolitionist Wendell Phillips. Also shows in the left foreground, New York Times editor and Scott supporter Henry J. Raymond depicted as a harlequin brandishing a billboard announcing the acts., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Purchase 2006., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1852]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - [1852] Whi [P.2006.6.2]

Title: Where's my thunder?
Description: Cartoon comparing the Senate chamber with a courtroom to satirize the Senate's response to Henry Clay's controversial and long-debated Compromise of 1850. Depicts Webster stealing the "Fugitive Slave Act" out of the pocket of Clay, who snoozes at his desk in the Senate (an allusion to the Senate's predominately positive reception of abolitionist Senator Webster's controversial support of the Act). In the background, Senators scowl, nap, and look on in anguish, including Lewis Cass of Michigan and Henry S. Foote of Mississippi. Cass, proponent of popular sovereignty and the extension of slavery, exclaims "Ain't tha man done yet." Foote, who proposed a special committee to revise Clay's omnibus bill, brandishes a club (probably an allusion to his violent confrontation with rival Thomas Hart Benton over his proposal). Contains several lines of text describing the larceny trial of "Defendent" Webster and "Complainant" Clay, including "loud applause" during Webster's departure of the "Court-room" compared to Clay's scarcely noticed exit. Also contains note: "(See Police Report in the Daily Screamer).", Title from item., Date inferred from content., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [1850?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1850-3W [6691.F.]

Title: A West India sportsman Make haste with the sangaree Quashie and tell Quaco to drive the birds up to me - I'm ready
Description: Satiric print mocking the decadent state of West Indian plantation society showing enslaved people catering to a white enslaver on a hunting trip. Shows the white man, seated under an umbrella, his feet up, his gun in his hand, as he is fanned by a long-sleeved shirt and sarong-clad enslaved man behind him. Other enslaved people (a woman, young men, and a child) keep flies away from platters of meat displayed on a table and a basket of tropical fruit; butler a large glass of sangaree; and drive birds from a field. Also shows jugs of liquor, including royal punch, sangaree, and rum, lined near the grinning "sportsman." The rum jug has toppled over near empty bottles strewn on the ground near a broken jug of water. In the distance, another white enslaver holds a gun and lies on a settee while an enslaved woman holds an umbrella over him. All the figures are depicted with exaggerated features., Publisher's advertisement printed below image: Of Mr. Holland may be had the following West India Prints, Johnny Newcome in the Island of Jamaica_ A Grand Jamaica Ball_ Martial Law in Jamaica_The Blessings of Jamaica_and a Segar Smoking Society in Jamaica. 5s each_A large portrait of Rachel Pringle of Barbadoes 7s. 6_Likewise Gillray's sale of English Beauties in the East Indies 7s 6d., Title from item., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., RVCDC., Purchase 2005., Lib. Company. Annual report, 2005, p. 62-65., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: November 1, 1807
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1807- Wes [P.2005.28.1]

Title: West India luxury!!
Description: Satiric print mocking the decadent state of West Indian plantation society containing five vignettes, one with text, depicting slothful white enslavers being lavishly catered to by Black and multiracial enslaved people. Vignettes include: "A West India Nabob" (i.e., man of wealth) as he lounges on his couch, attired in a wide brimmed hat, surrounded by his entourage of enslaved women; enslaved men being used as a "Portable Boot Jack" by their white man enslaver; the white women enslaver showing "Creolean Patience" as she waits for her enslaved marketing person to be told by her enslaved attendant to pick up her nearby fallen needle; the white women enslaver telling "Quashebah come and take my Head in again" from her open window; and a white man enslaver enjoying "One of the Luxuries" of slavery as enslaved women simultaneously comb his hair, wash his feet, fan him, and serve him goblets of wine., Title from item., Described in David Kunzle's The Early comic strip: Narrative strips and picture stories in the European broad sheet from c. 1450 to 1825 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973), p. 374-5., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2000, p. 37-38., Purchase 2000., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: April 1808
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political cartoons - 1808-Wes [9455.F]

Title: West India fashionables On a visit in style. Taking a ride
Description: Satiric print mocking the decadent state of West Indian plantation society containing two views depicting enslaved people performing gratuitous tasks for traveling white enslavers. "On a Visit in Style" shows an enslaver, his wife, and her white lady's maid seated in the cab and rear of a horse-drawn gig. The gig displays a crest comprised of a goblet and whips. One enslaved man guides and another steers the horse that is adorned in netting to protect it from flies. An enslaved man and woman follow the carriage. They carry the enslaver's trunks on their heads. Also shows a windmill and sugar refinery in the background. "Taking a Ride" shows a white couple riding on horses, which are adorned with protective netting, past a sugar refinery and enslaved men and women working in a field. The white woman wears a huge bonnet obscuring her face. An enslaved man guides her horse while another holds its tail and uses a branch to fend off flies. The white man who wears an extremely wide-brimmed hat also has an enslaved man fending away flies from his horse's tail. George suggests that the enslaved people are to be assumed as the progeny of the enslaver as they all have the same unusually shaped nose., Publisher's advertisement printed below image: Of Mr. Holland may be had the following West India Prints, Johnny Newcome in the Island of Jamaica_ A Grand Jamaica Ball_ Martial Law in Jamaica_The Blessings of Jamaica_and a Segar Smoking Society in Jamaica. 5s each_A large portrait of Rachel Pringle of Barbadoes 7s. 6_Likewise Gillray's sale of English Beauties in the East Indies 7s 6d., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Purchase 2005., RVCDC., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Lib. Company. Annual report, 2005, p. 62-65.
Date: November 1, 1807
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1807-Wes [P.2005.28.2]

Title: Views of slavery Does the slaveholder admit the slave to be a human being? If so we would ask his interpretation of the following sentiment "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do you even so to them."
Description: Abolitionist print containing six scenes depicting the inhumanity of slavery. Scenes include enslaved African American children crying while their mothers work and a white man enslaver whips an enslaved man in a sugar plantation field; the punishment of enslaved people by flogging, whipping, and binding by white men overseers in a shack; an auction of enslaved people; a free African American woman with a child watching the destruction of her free papers as she is kidnapped from the street; an anguished enslaved mother being separated from her children by a white man involved in the slave trade; and the shipping of enslaved people to New Orleans from a Baltimore dock. Also contains an excerpt about the rights of human beings from William Ellery Channing's abolitionist text, "On Slavery," below the image., Title from item., Advertised in the New York American Anti-Slavery Society newspaper, Emancipator (March 1836), p.3., Purchase 2003., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Lib. Company. Annual report, 2003, p. 45-46.
Date: [1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1836 Vie [P.2003.10], http://www.lcpimages.org/afro-americana/F-Views.htm

Title: The two platforms
Description: Racist poster attacking radical Republican support of African American suffrage by comparing the platforms of Democratic candidate and white supremacist Heister Clymer and radical Republican candidate John White Geary during the 1866 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election. Depicts the side-by-side bust portraits of a white man titled "Clymer's Platform is for the White Man" and an African American man, portrayed in racist caricature with grotesque features, titled "Geary's Platform is for the Negro." Contains three lines of text above the image which reference the other "Radical" Republican candidates who support "Negro Suffrage" and two lines below which declares "Read the Platforms. Congress says, the Negro must be allowed to vote, or the states be punished.", Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Reilly., RVCDC, Purchase 1998., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1866]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1866-8 [9387.F]

Title: The triumph
Description: Print predicting the Union's triumph over the Confederacy using an allegory of "Humanitas" (i.e., Humanity) depicted as a white woman holding a child astride an eagle, reaching to save a shackled African American held on the ground by the evil "King Cotton." From a break in the clouds an apparition appears behind "Humanitas," including "Freedom" depicted as a woman wearing a crown of feathers holding a large American flag and a Liberty cap; "Christianity" depicted as a white woman holding a bible; "Justitia" depicted as a white woman holding scales; George Washington; Thomas Jefferson; and Benjamin Franklin. The oppressed enslaved person reaches up as "King Cotton," portrayed with an alligator head with a body composed of a bale of cotton with a holster of pistols, raises his hands in horror as the eagle clutches his cloak and shoots lightning bolts at his throne. To his right a column labeled "Lecompton", "Fugitive Slave," and "Missouri Compromise" is set aflame from the lightning. In the left, the "Hydra of Discord" accompanied by a hound "Fugitive Slave Law," a group of white men enslavers, and a Spaniard, who drops a package marked "Cuba $50,000,000," flee from the vision to the sea where a boat of enslaved African American men are docked. Contains eighteen lines of verse from Lord Byron's 1813 poem "The Giaour" below the image., Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Reilly., Per Reilly, published key to print exists., Copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1861 by M. H. Traubel, in the Clerks Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Penna., Accessioned 1999., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: 1861
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *political cartoons - 1862-15 [P.9654]

Title: The travelled monkey - wiser & sadder
Description: Cartoon depicting two unidentified white men, attired in suits, on the balcony of the "Cleveland Hotel" in front of a hostile crowd calling out "Traitor" and "You be Damned." The speaker clutches a handkerchief and the bannister of the balcony as he tries to placate the crowd by stating it is their "Congress that is trying to break up the Government." The man beside him in the left smugly comments that he hopes the mayor is in town. An African American man in the crowd, portrayed in racist caricature, taunts the speaker, "How about that $400 Gold watch.", Title from item., Date inferred from content., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1884?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1884 Tra [5760.F.110]

Title: The times
Description: Satire depicting the economic depression and social misery of the working class following the Panic of 1837. Depicts a figure symbolizing President Jackson composed of a hat, spectacles, and pipe called "Glory" overlooking a city street. Lining the street is a hotel for sale; a Custom House doing no business; "The Mechanics Bank" during a run; the pawn shop of "Shylock Graspall"; a liquor store in front of which an African American shoe shiner greets another African American man; the Sheriff's office doing an active business; and attorney "Peter Pillage" being collected by his horse drawn carriage. In the foreground peaches and flour are for sale at exorbitant prices; several white men laborers sit and stand idle including a mason, sailor, carpenter, and driver; a widowed white mother and child beg a banker for money; and reminiscent of Hogarth's "Gin Lane," a white woman and a child lay on a straw mat next to a white man drunkard and seated militiaman. Visible in the background are an almshouse, "Bridewell" Debtor Prison, an idle wharf, and a deflating balloon marked "Safety Fund" symbolizing Van Buren's failed New Bank insurance program., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: 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., LCP exhibition catalogue: Made in America #52., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Clay, born in Philadelphia, was a prominent caricaturist, engraver, and lithographer.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date: 1837
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1837-8 [5760.F.75]

Title: Sunday laws hanging the cat on Monday for killing the mouse on Sunday
Description: Cartoon mocking Philadelphia's Sunday Laws depicting the moment before "Thomas" the cat will be hanged for his murder of a mouse on the Sabbath. In the center, shows the gallows surrounded by a line of white policemen, attired in uniforms and caps. In the left, three white hangmen, attired in suits, hold onto the rope and pull on the unlooped end of the noose. Two of the men smile sinisterly, while the third man wipes his tears with a handkerchief as he says, “Alas poor Tom!” To the right, an African American man, portrayed in racist caricature with exaggerated features, carries the "Blood Tub." Under the noose, a white man, possibly Philadelphia Mayor Alexander Henry, stands holding an execution order that reads, “Mayor Public Execution Tom” and the cat by the scruff of its neck. Before him stands a minister, resembling John Chambers, a champion of the Sunday Laws. He holds the dead mouse in this right hand and an open book in his left hand as he sentences the cat to death for murder. Behind the minister, an elderly white man, attired in a suit with a white bowtie, stands slightly hunched down holding an ear trumpet to his right ear. He comments, “I can’t hear a word the minister says on account of them cars,” a reference to the contested Sunday Law against the running of streetcars. A black dog runs in the left foreground., Title from item., Date from manuscript note written on recto: Aug. 1859., Place of publication inferred from content., Text printed on recto, below image: In the Dark Ages, long ago, One Horne was flogged on Monday; What for? That’s what I want you to know, He danced a horn-pipe Sunday! That was all! He but danced a horn-pipe Sunday, But he danced to the horsewhip Monday. By the roundheads, too, when Cromwell reigned, We read there was a hung on Monday, A cat who “the Sabbath day (?) profaned” By cat-ching a mouse on Sunday? Understand: She played with him first on Sunday, ‘Twas for that she was hung on Monday! And by America’s Puritan men, Mrs. Hotchkiss was punished on Monday; Cotton Mather forbade her, but once and again, She had kissed her babe on Sunday; A blow for a kiss. For so many kisses on Sunday, She got so many blows on Monday. So, too, in Brooklyn, the other day, Meyerbeer was tried on Monday; The complaint against him thus did say “He has sold lager beer on Sunday” And he had! But the jury said, on Monday! A good drink might be sold Sunday! And in the West’s “Queen city,” too, One Rudolph’s just ‘quitted on Monday; He would drive his ‘bus the whole week through And accommodate people on Sunday: And the Court, Gave the very Pruden-t decision on Monday, That “there’s more than ‘one thing needful’ on Sunday:” And so the “good time” is “coming” boys When a thing that is good on Monday—A drink, or a drive, or a joyful noise—Will be thought not bad on Sunday! Everywhere When wrong will be wrong on Monday, And right will be right on Sunday!, Accessioned 1893., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [Philadelphia]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1859-Sun [5656.F.24a]

Title: A strike! A strike!
Description: Anti-labor union cartoon satirizing the several New York workers' strikes for higher wages in early 1836 during a harsh winter; a period of severe inflation, including exorbitant market prices; and an era of property speculation. Depicts livestock on strike for a higher market value near fish peddlers attired in winter garb, including two African American shellfish vendors. Animals include a Tom turkey ordering a turkey hen not to sell her young ones because "gobblers will bring twenty shillings and hens fifteen"; hens refusing to lay eggs for "less than four pence a piece"; a pig holding a banner inscribed "Hams 15 cents per lb exclaiming "I shall Jew them out of a shilling a pound"; an indignant lamb and calf conferring about their deserved increased prices per pound; and a confident steer exhorting the range of high prices for ordinary beef, corn fed beef, and beef shins. In the foreground, two African American men vendors get advice from two African American marketers, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in the vernacular, about oysters unable to "strike for de frost" and that "gemmen" will not buy open mouthed clams. A white man fish peddler hawks his bass at "whole for two shilling de pound" and cut at "tree shillin" to a white gentleman inquiring about fresh fish. In the right, a barking dog sits on his "House to let. Inquire No. 48 Courtlandt St." (address of publisher) and comments "I feel like a savage! this is all contrary to law," probably an allusion to the "Geneva ruling" of 1835 by the New York state supreme court, which proclaimed unions and strikes forbidden by law., Title from item., Artist's initial lower left corner., Publication information from Weitenkampf., Copyright statement printed on recto: Entered according to act of Congress in the Year 1836, by H.R. Robinson, in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States of the Southern District of New York., Described in Nancy Reynolds Davison's "E.W. Clay: American political caricaturist of the Jacksonian era" (PhD diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 164-165., Purchase 2003., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date: [March 1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1836 - 1w [P.2003.40.1]

Title: Southern ideas of liberty. New method of assorting the mail, as practised by southern slave-holders, or attack on the post office, Charleston, S.C
Description: Print portraying the violent suppression of Southern abolitionism. Depicts a riotous mob around a gallows from which a white man hangs. It is overseen by Judge Lynch, depicted with donkey's ears and holding a whip while stepping on the Constitution. He is seated upon bales of cotton, sugar, and tobacco and sentences a white man abolitionist to be hanged by the neck. The abolitionist is grabbed and drug to the gallows by two white men., Print portraying a raid of anti-abolitionists on the Charleston Post Office in July 1835. Depicts white men removing and then pilfering mail-bags from the ransacked post-office and throwing to the ground abolitionist newspapers including "The Liberator," "Atlas," and "Commercial Gazette" while a riotous mob burns the papers. Posted on the Post Office is a broadside titled "$20,000 Reward for Tappan" referring to the bounty placed by the city of New Orleans upon Arthur Tappan, founder and president of the American Anti-Slavery Society., Title from item., Advertised in 1836 editions of the abolitionist newspapers The Liberator, published in Boston, and Emancipator, published in New York., Text printed on recto: Sentence passed upon one for supporting that clause of our Declaration viz. All men are born free &equal. “Strip him to the skin! give him a coat of Tar & Feathers! Hang him by the neck, between the Heavens and the Earth!!! as a beacon to warn the Northern Fanatics of their danger!!!!”, Purchase 1981., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1835]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1835-2 & 3 [P.8658]

Title: Southern chivalry - argument versus club's
Description: Cartoon critically addressing the Brooks-Sumner Affair in which Southern Congressman Preston S. Brooks caned antislavery Senator Charles Sumner in the Senate on May 26, 1856. Brook's "chivalrous" attack on Sumner was a reprisal for Sumner's two-day speech, "The Crime against Kansas," which attacked the violence occurring in Kansas over the issue of slavery; the South; and Brook's uncle, Andrew Butler. Depicts Sumner, head bloodied, quill in his raised hand and clutching a paper symbolically inscribed "Kansas.," He is held to the ground by Butler whose face is obscured by his raised arm and hand that holds his cane above his head. Butler is posed in mid-strike. Members of Congress observe in the background, some laughing, some scowling, with one member raising his hands in surrender from another who has his fist and cane raised., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Magee was a Philadelphia lithographer who established his own lithographic firm in Philadelphia in 1850.
Creator: Magee, John L., artist
Date: [1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1856-3W [5760.F.105]

Title: The smokers
Description: Cartoon concerning smoking as a vice depicting a crowd scene where everyone smokes, including women and children. In the foreground, a white man sits on a wooden chair holding a pipe in hand, refers to his "illustrious predecessor," Andrew Jackson. Two white boys light their cigars together. A finely dressed white woman carrying a parasol is horrified and says, "Oh! The monsters, I'm half blinded and suffocated" as she holds her nose. An elegantly dressed African American woman holds her hand to her nose and exclaims, "What a nasty practice, it's enough to make a dog sick." In the right, a white man street peddler carries a tray of plaster busts, including a pipe smoking Jackson. "Jack Downing," cigar in hand, states he picked up the habit in France and that his lighter was made from Jackson's spectacles but thinks a loco-foco (a faction of the Democrats who were named after a type of match) would go quicker. An African American chimney sweep and an African American shoe shiner shake hands with cigars in their mouths. They are portrayed in racist caricature and speak in the vernacular about smoking. "I say Josh, wot you smoke dem long nines for, why don't you smoke Half Spanish like a gen'leman." "Cause I've called in my Shin Plasters, and suspended Specie payments!!", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: 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 U.S. of the Southern Dist. of New York., Text printed on recto: Tobacco is a stinking weed, It was the Devil sow'd the seed, It drains the purse & fouls the clothes, And makes a chimney of the nose., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Clay, born in Philadelphia, was a prominent caricaturist, engraver, and lithographer.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date: 1837
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1837-25W [5656.F.3]

Title: The slavery question. Great prize-fight of the American eagle against the wolf and the alligator
Description: Cartoon portraying the extension of slavery as dependent upon the United States' successful annexation of California and Texas. Depicts the American eagle on a mound protecting her nest of hatchlings labeled "Texas" and "California" from a wolf and an alligator. The wolf dressed as a sheep is being restrained by John Bull who represents England and states, "I bet Canada" (a proposed U.S. annexation). The alligator is being restrained by Don Quixote who represents Spain and states, "I bet Cuba!" (another proposed U.S. annexation). In front of the nest sits a barefooted enslaved African American man, portrayed in racist caricature and attired in torn and worn clothes. He holds his head in hands with the unbroken pot of slavery on his left and the broken pot of liberty, under the foot of John Bull, on his right. Behind the nest stands a bowery B'hoy figure holding a banner inscribed, "The Union Forever" and George Washington stating, "Go it, my boy you will beat them all.", Title from item., Publication date supplied by Weitenkampf., Inscribed: Pl. 4., Purchase 1975., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1844]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political cartoons - 1844-75W [8138.F]

Title: Slavery as it exists in America : Slavery as it exists in England
Description: Racist, anti-abolition print challenging Northern abolitionists' view of slavery by favorably contrasting the living conditions of enslaved African American people in America with that of British industrial workers. First image depicts enslaved men, women, and children playing music, singing, and dancing during a hoe-down while Southerners and Northerners observe and comment about how the false reports to the North about the hardships of slavery will now be rectified. Second image portrays a British cloth factory where several emaciated white factory workers, attired in torn and worn clothes, have gathered, including a woman and her children referring to themselves as slaves; two workers discussing running away to an easier life in the coal mines; and workers commenting on their premature aging. A rotund priest and tax collector observe. Soldiers march in the background. Below the image is a small portrait of the "English Anti-slavery Agitator" George Thompson., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1850 by J. Haven in the clerk's office of the District Court of Mass., Manuscript note on verso: Deposited April 9, 1851, Recorded vol 26. pag, 145., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1967, p. 55., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: 1850
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1850-6 [P.9675]

Title: Slave emancipation; or, John Bull gulled out of twenty millions
Description: Anti-abolitionist satire of the indemnification expenses to be paid as a result of the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1833. Depicts William Wilberforce, a prominent British abolitionist, leading a tour group comprised of a white man enslaver, a white man Whig, and "John Bull" through the dwellings of enslaved people. As the tour passes, a group of happy and celebrating Black men, attired in yellow, blue, or green pants and shoes and portrayed in racist caricature, dance and smoke from pipes. One man sits with his back to the viewer and smokes a pipe beside a jug labeled, "Rum." Wilberforce preaches about the necessary expense of emancipation and the wretched condition of the enslaved to which Bull laments about "our poor innocent factory children, for whom you haven't one small spark of pity." The white men comment about the personal effect of emancipation on them., Title from item., Date and place of publication inferred from content., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1978, p. 55., Purchase 1978., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1833?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1833 - Sla [8392.F]

Title: The shackle broken - by the genius of freedom
Description: Print containing a montage of vignettes and quotes supportive of African American civil rights centered around a scene of "Hon. Robert B. Elliott, of South Carolina, delivering his great speach [sic] on 'civil rights' in the House of Representatives, January 6, 1874" to the packed floor of white and African American Congressmen and balcony of spectators. Contains an American flag inscribed with the quote, "What you give to one class, you must give to all. What you deny to one class, you shall deny to all;" scenes of African American soldiers, officers, and sailors; statues of Lincoln holding his "Emancipation Proclamation" and Senator Charles Sumner holding his "Bill of Civil Rights;" and quotes referring to African American participation in the Civil War. Also contains a scene espousing "free labor is the present, slave labor is the past" with an African American family at their homestead where they "toil for [their] own children and not for those of others.", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1874 by E. Sachse & Co. Baltimore in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington., LCP exhibition catalogue: Negro History #213., Accessioned 1999., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., E. Sachse & Company, a Baltimore lithographic firm active until the 1870s, was operated by Edward Sachse (also a painter), his brother William, and relative Theodore. The company produced numerous folio sized views.
Creator: E. Sachse & Co., lithographer
Date: 1874
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1874-1 [P.9653]

Title: Senate chamber U.S.A. Conclusion of Clay's speech in defense of slavery
Description: Cartoon satirizing an 1839 anti-abolition speech by the congressional orator Henry Clay focusing on his conflicting views on the abolition of slavery. Clay, despite deploring the institution of slavery, was an enslaver who was against immediate national abolition. Depicts Clay, in front of the Mason-Dixon line, coming to an agreement with John Calhoun, his chief congressional rival and leading senatorial supporter of slavery, about the issue of slavery. They both stand on past abolitionist resolutions and a prostrate enslaved African American man who quotes a verse from the Bible's book of Micah 7:8 that he will "arise." Clay's remarks "North" of the line reflect his abolitionist rhetoric; those "South" of the line refer to him being an enslaver. Calhoun states his pleasure in Clay's awakening to the societal benefits of slavery., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Accessioned 1979., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1839]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1839-24w [P.2275.18]

Title: Secession displayed
Description: Pro-Union cartoon containing a montage of vignettes representing the consequences of secession, particularly the denigration of American freedom. Depicts Roman soldiers representing the "Demons of Nullification, Secession, and Treason" attacking the "Temple of Freedom," the edifice adorned with the names of Revolutionary heroes and battles. The allegorical army carries a "Flag of Disunion" inscribed "Liberty! [To Extend Slavery]," swords, spears, and torches. These soldiers of "war" and "rapine" trample upon the torn Constitution and American flag. In the background, surrounding vignettes depict the bloodied, manacled "Genius of Liberty," depicted as a white woman, fallen beside "Free Speech" and the "Free Press"; the "Servile Insurrection" depicting enslaved Black men attacking white men, women, and children; the king "Military Despotism," depicted as a white man attired in a crown, brandishes manacles and bayonets to complete "the work begun by the traitors"; ghostly figures of "Departed Heroes & Sages," including Washington, Jefferson, and Adams look aghast "on the sacrilege perpetrated in the name of Liberty"; and Liberty, depicted as a white woman, weeps beside an upside down American flag and below the quote of the executed French revolutionary, Madame Roland, "O Liberty! What crimes are committed in thy name.", Text printed above image: "Indignantly frown upon every attempt to alien any portion of our country from the rest"--Washington., Text printed below image: The enemies of the Republic, from the Gulf, or Lower Regions, led on by the Demons of Nullification, Secession and Treason, assail the Temple of American Freedom, consecrated by the blood of the Martyrs of Liberty. Raising the Flag of Disunion, the Traitors trample on the Star-spangled Banner and the Constitution which they have sworn to defend. The Genius of Liberty is stricken down and manacled. War and Servile Insurrection prevail. Military Despotism, of necessity, succeeds, and with its chains and bayonets completes the work begun by the Traitors. The Genius of America weeps, while, above, the shades of departed Heroes and Statesmen gaze with sad astonishment on the sacrilege perpetrated in the name of Liberty! “God Save the Commonwealth.”, Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by John Barber, in the office of the Clerk of the District Court of Connecticut., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1981., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: 1861
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons-1861 Sec [P.8699]

Title: [Scraps no. 3 for 1832]
Description: Plate one from the 1832 edition of, "Scraps," Johnston's popular satirical series of societal caricatures published between 1828 and 1840, and in 1849. Depicts a montage of nine scenes lampooning contemporary social issues and every day life such as corporal punishment, public drunkenness, popular fashion, marital relations, and libraries. Includes "Lock on the Understanding in two Toms bound in boards" depicting two "Toms" locked in a stockade without refreshment discussing their "Dry Goods" & "Stationary" business;" Heavy Wet" depicting a white man homeowner shocked to see a bank of snow fall from his roof unto a passerby's head; 'What a piece of work is a Man...." depicting hogs ashamed to be seen with a white man drunkard unconscious in their slop near a distillery; "Cowed Down" depicting a white wife upset about her cow's well-being as she watches her "mischievous" white husband being gored by it; "The Menagerie" depicting a confused African American man witnessing children mistaking a white man dandy and white woman dandiette for wild creatures at an animal menagerie; "Bullying Up" depicting a white farm boy haranguing a bull in front of his angry mother; "The Cat Doth Play & After Slay" depicting a picture "copied from an innkeeper's sign in Jugtown, N. Jersey" showing a cat playing a fiddle in front of a horse-drawn sleigh; "The Library" depicting the interior of a library where a foppish white woman, a Frenchman, and white men librarians misinterpret and misunderstand comments about popular literature; and "A Soporific" depicting an ailing white man unaffected by "laudanum opium" requesting his Reverend to preach a sermon in order to put him to sleep., Title supplied by cataloger., Printed in upper left corner: Plate 1., Published in D.C. Johnston's Scraps No. 3 1832 (Boston: D.C. Johnston, 1832), pl. 1., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1893., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Johnston, David Claypoole, 1799-1865
Date: [1832]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1832 Scr (a) [5656.F.25]

Title: [Scraps no. 3 for 1832]
Description: Plate two from the 1832 edition of, "Scraps," Johnston's popular satirical series of societal caricatures published between 1828 and 1840, and in 1849. Depicts a montage of nine scenes lampooning contemporary social issues and everyday life, such as dueling, juries, the wealthy, debt, education, and the use of coal as a fuel. Includes "Fair Play: Safe Play" depicting two absurd methods of dueling utilizing chalked figures on a rotund man and a barn door; "Hunger Versus Judgment Jury -Room" depicting a hungry jury voting for execution in order to adjourn for dinner; "Who Are You Looking At?" depicting an indignant white man looking at the viewer; "The Last Bell" depicting a wealthy, white "belle" with an entourage transporting her numerous belongings for a river voyage, annoyed with her son who has fallen in the water; "Military Precocity" depicting a young white boy aspiring to fit into his grandfather's oversized military uniform; "Anti-Phlogistic" depicting white gentlemen experimenting with safe, economical "Rhode Island coal" in a fireplace attended by an African American man servant; "Primary School Examination" depicting an elementary classroom where a white man teacher is mocked as a "jackass" and a white girl student reveals during a spelling lesson that her mother takes rum in her tea; "An Incarcerated Monster" depicting a white man artisan debtor on display in his prison cell in front of a wealthy family commenting about his deserved incarceration as a monster., Title supplied by cataloger., Printed in upper left corner: Plate 2., Published in D.C. Johnston's Scraps No. 3 1832 (Boston: D.C. Johnston, 1832), pl. 2., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1979., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., African American household employees
Creator: Johnston, David Claypoole, 1799-1865
Date: [1832]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1832-Scr (b) [P.2275.26]

Title: [Scraps no. 3 for 1832]
Description: Plate three from the 1832 edition of, "Scraps" Johnston's popular satirical series of societal caricatures published between 1828 and 1840, and in 1849. Depicts a montage of nine scenes lampooning contemporary social issues and everyday life such as fashion, gender relationships, bed bugs, the theater, modesty, materialism, parental relationships, and drunkenness. Includes "A Rain Bow" depicting a white man dandy offering to assist a white woman with her parasol under the judging eye of a fellow unwilling to "wear out" his umbrella in the rain; "Great Cry and Little Wool" depicting white chambermaids mocking the fearfulness of a white man being attacked by gigantic, near sated bed bugs and a mosquito; "Pressure of the Times" depicting a crowd of white men fighting with each other for "Boston Theater" box tickets; "Ne Plus Ultra of Delicacy" depicting white men discussing "decently clothed tables and chairs" while tending to an unconscious white woman driven to faint after viewing a sculpture of barely-clad "Chanting Cherubs"; "Sport of His Satanic Majesty" depicting Satan and his minion fishing for white drunkards to be eaten and used as firewood; "Mother's Hope and Father's Joy" depicting a little, white "gentleman" being bid upon by his mother and a little girl; "The Test of Friendship" depicting a white man drunkard showing true friendship by lying in the gutter with his equally inebriated white man friend; "Steamboat Scene" depicting white individuals and a family reacting to a "man overboard" with gawking looks, a cry for a rope, a criticism of drunkenness, anger at his non-removal of expensive shoes, and a desire to exchange places to forgo seasickness; "Going Off Half Cocked" depicting and an intoxicated white man stuttering "good evening" in front of his snickering African American maid, portrayed in racist caricature., Title supplied by cataloger., Printed in upper left corner: Plate 3., Published in D.C. Johnston's Scraps No. 3 1832 (Boston: D.C. Johnston, 1832), pl. 3., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1979., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Johnston, David Claypoole, 1799-1865
Date: 1832
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1832-Scr (c) [P.2275.27]

Title: [Scraps no. 3. for 1832]
Description: Plate four from the 1832 edition of "Scraps," Johnston's popular satirical series of societal caricatures published between 1828 and 1840, and in 1849. Depicts a montage of nine scenes lampooning contemporary social issues and everyday life such as fashion, religious hypocrisy, ignorance, vanity, country life, class inequities, the military, and higher education. Includes 'The Glass of Fashion & The Mould of Form' depicting a white man sales clerk falsely flattering a white man dandy trying on a puff-sleeved coat; "Faith and Works" depicting a hypocritical white man Deacon, near a fireplace, reneging the shelter that he promised to a cold, poor white woman outside his door while his African American servant offers her money; "Arrival of a Country Cousin" depicting a snobby, white, city gentleman snubbing his country cousin; "About to be Astonished" depicting a dimwitted gloating white man farmer about to intentionally kill a sleeping "varmint" and unintentionally kill his friend with a sickle; "Champagne [Campaign] or the Fatigues of Modern Camp Duty" depicting a grossly intoxicated troop of white military officers toasting their intellect and patriotism; "A Body Coat & A Coat of Arms" depicting a rotund and thin "John Smith" exchanging wrongly delivered coats; "The Able-Bodied Man & The Exempt" depicting a scraggly white soldier encountering an "exempt" hardy white gentleman; "Symptoms of Extravagance" depicting a white man, attired in rags, debating the necessity to "dress better on Sunday"; "College Acquirements" depicting an African American man and woman, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in the vernacular, discussing 'de college for de colour'd circles' based on the beneficial effects of college on "Massa Bob," including his staying out later, no longer reading, and drinking champagne., Title supplied by cataloger., Printed in upper left corner: Plate 4., Published in D.C. Johnston's Scraps No. 3 1832 (Boston: D.C. Johnston, 1832), pl. 4., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1893., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Johnston, David Claypoole, 1799-1865
Date: [1832]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1832-Scr (d) [5656.F.24]

Title: [Scraps for the year 1830]
Description: Plate three from the 1830 edition of "Scraps," Johnston's popular satirical series of societal caricatures published between 1828 and 1840, and in 1849. Depicts a montage of nine scenes lampooning contemporary society titled: Practitioners of the Bar Lamenting the Failure of the United States Mint; Putting the Best Leg Foremost; Fixed Air; Erudition; A Discharge of Filth; Improvement in Bathing; Conjugal Affection; Making Up a Party of Pleasure; and Hot Corn. Scenes depict: white men commodities brokers bemoaning the "winter" market at a tavern; white women shoppers lamenting a lost butter firkin and questioning the quality of a leg of meat including an African American man carrying a basket of food; two white men in a bed chamber with a closed window discussing the unhealthiness of "fixed air"; a white man quibbling over the omission of the word "physician" in the dictionary; the chastisement of a Boston drunkard near his overturned cart pulled by his drunk "haus"; a white man shower-bathing with an umbrella; the fattening of a dying white man to be purchased as a cadaver ; a working class, white Boston family reminding a destitute woman of the pleasure in witnessing a hanging; and a discussion of the processing of "hot corn" between a African American waiter and two white men patrons. Includes two African American characters, a servant and a waiter, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in the vernacular., Title supplied by cataloger., Inscribed upper right corner: Pl 3., Published in D. C. Johnston's Scraps for the year 1830 (Boston: D.C. Johnston, 1830), pl. 3. (LCP Am 1830 Joh, 7021.F.3)., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1979., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Johnston, David Claypoole, 1799-1865
Date: [1830]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - [1830]-Scr [P.2275.25]

Title: Scent to the legislature
Description: Racist cartoon expressing disdain for African Americans who were elected to office as a result of Reconstruction. Depicts a bust-length portrait of an African American man legislator, portrayed in racist caricature with grotesque features, attired in a white collared shirt, a plaid bowtie, a waistcoat, and a jacket, smiling. He is flanked by two white men legislators who hold their noses as though he had a bad "scent." Many African American legislators were targeted as the source of corruption in politics during the era., Title from item., Date of publication of 1868 is used as the content suggests that the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment has occurred. Weitenkampf suggests an earlier date of 1865 arguing that African Americans were elected to office during the early era of Reconstruction, Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1868?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1868 Sce [5760.F.117]

Title: The Salt River gazette---extra, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1867 The Great Negro Party--born, 1856--died Oct. 8, 1867
Description: Cartoon publicizing the death of the "Great Negro Party" (i.e., Republican Party) as a result of the defeat of several Republican candidates to Democrats in the Philadelphia local elections of 1867. Depicts a series of racist captioned vignettes and caricatures. Includes the head of an African American man above a coffin inscribed with the life and death dates of the party (1856-Oct. 8, 1867); “a Scene at the Broad St. League House” depicting a white man minister forced to perform an interracial marriage between a white woman and an African American man; and a scene entitled "The Work of Congress repudiated by the People" showing an African American man lounging and watching white men labor to pay their taxes. Also includes an African American man dandy commenting in the vernacular on his making electors sick "dis time"; and a scene titled "Statue to be erected in front of the Union League House" showing the sculpture of an older African American woman on a ragged horse. The African American dandy caricature originally appeared as an illustration titled "S.S. Sanford in One of his Great Delineations of Ethiopian Character" in "Our Day," an 1860 circular that advertised his Sanford Opera House. The statue caricature originally appeared in the "Original Comicalities" section of the June 1854 edition of "Graham's Magazine" and was titled "Woolly Equestrian Statue of the late Mrs. Joyce Heth." Mrs. Heth, an early attraction of P.T. Barnum from 1835 until 1836, claimed that she was over 100 years old and a nanny to George Washington., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Originally part of McAllister scrapbooks of views of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania views and political miscellany. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1867]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1867-1W [5759.F; (2)1322.F.77]

Title: The resurrection of Henry Box Brown at Philadelphia Who escaped from Richmond Va. in a box 3 feet long 2 1/2 ft. deep and 2 ft. wide
Description: Antislavery print celebrating the moment freedom seeker Henry Box Brown emerged from his crate in Philadelphia. Brown, with the assistance of the Vigilance Committee of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, escaped slavery by having himself shipped to Philadelphia where he emerged in the presence of abolitionists Professor Charles D. Cleveland, J. Miller M'Kim, William Still, and printer Lewis Thompson. Depicts Brown just emerging from his box with Still holding the crate's lid labeled, "Wm. Johnson, Arch St. Philadelphia, This side up with Care;" Cleveland with a saw in his right hand; M'Kim with a hatchet in one hand and using his other hand to help Still hold the lid; and Thompson pointing to Brown with his right hand as he holds in his free hand a walking stick., Title from item., Date inferred from variant described in Reilly and LCP copy described by Jeffrey Ruggles, The unboxing of Henry Box Brown (Richmond: The Library of Virginia, 2003), 114. Ruggles notes copies of the print had been received and advertised by the "Anti-Slavery Bugle" of Ohio before March 8, 1851., Variant reproduced in William Still, The underground railroad (1872) p.70. [LCP Am 1872 Still, 56405.O]., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 1975, p. 59-60., Purchase 1975., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Call number in location based on Reilly entry., Kramer was a German born painter and lithographer who worked with the Rosenthals, a prominent Philadelphia family of lithographers, by 1850 and through the early 1850s.
Creator: Kramer, Peter, 1823-1907, artist
Date: [ca. 1850 - ca. 1851]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1850-4R variant [8183.F]

Title: The results of abolitionism!
Description: Cartoon reflecting the fear among Northern white workers of job competition with free African Americans. Depicts African American men bricklayers, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in vernacular, on a construction site giving orders to white laborers in a reversal of roles. The laborers work on a large multi-storied brick building fronted by scaffolding and a ladder. The African American supervisors hold trowels and stand at the top of the scaffolding. They hurl orders and abuse at white workers exclaiming: "Bring up the mortar you white rascals" and "You bog-trotters, come along with them bricks." An African American man standing on the ground, attired as a dandy, exclaims, "White man hurry up them bricks." A white man climbs the ladder and two white men work on the ground shoveling and picking up bricks. Another white man stands and says, "Sambo hurry up the white laborers.", Title from item., Date inferred from content., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1835]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1835 - Res [5780.F.1]

Title: The result of the Fifteenth Amendment, and the rise and progress of the African race in America and its final accomplishment, and celebration on May 19th A.D. 1870
Description: Print commemorating the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment containing a large central scene of the celebratory parade held in Baltimore in May surrounded by several bust portraits and vignettes. Parade is led by several African American Zoaves down Monument Street, which is lined with African American and white men, women, and children spectators. Bust-length portraits of African American civil rights supporters above and to the sides of this scene include Abraham Lincoln; Baltimore jurist Hugh Lennox Bond; abolitionist John Brown; Vice-President Schuyler Colfax; President Grant; Pennsylvania representative Thaddeus Stevens; Maryland representative Henry Davis; Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner; Martin Robinson Delaney; Frederick Douglass; and Mississippi Senator Hiram Revels. Vignettes include a plantation scene depicting enslaved African American men and women working in a cotton field while a white man stands looking on titled, "we are in bondage, deliver us!; a Civil War battle with African American troops; a classroom with an African American man teacher and African American students titled, "Education will be our pride"; an African American congregation; and a parade of African American Masons holding banners., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1870 by Metcalf & Clark, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington., Purchase 1968., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: 1870
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *political cartoons - 1870-2 [7764.F]

Title: Republican platform, or the political montebank
Description: Cartoon critical of the inequity of the 1868 Republican platform's post-war monetary policy. Depicts pensioners and bond holders witnessing Republican presidential nominee General Ulysses S. Grant, attired in his military uniform and spurs, balancing himself on a plank using a baton inscribed "U.S. Treasury" from which gold pieces shoot out from the one end as greenbacks (paper money without gold backing) shoot out from the other. The gold falls in the direction of the smug, well-dressed, white men bond holders who gladly accept such reimbursement for their government bonds. The greenbacks land on the pensioners, which include a white disabled veteran with an amputated arm and leg and a white, widowed mother with a baby who bitterly question such a form of payment for their war services. The plank is supported by a kneeling Horace Greeley, the New York Tribune editor, and a kneeling African American man, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in the vernacular, "you as got to carry dis chile on dat platform, Massa Grant, too." Greeley warns that "we must not let this Election go by default, so hurry up you stump speakers.", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress by John McDermott in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York., Purchase 1958., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: 1868
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1868-13W [6270.F]

Title: Red hot Republicans on the Democratic Gridiron. "The San Domingo war dance."
Description: Cartoon satirizing liberal Republicans opposed to the Grant administration's proposed annexation of San Domingo. Depicts the devil holding a gridiron above a roaring flame upon which several bare-footed Republicans are jumping up and down from the heat including Carl Schurz, Charles Sumner, Horace Greeley, and probably Schuyler Colfax and Winfield Scott Hancock. Missouri senator Schurz cries, "I am loud on San Domingo, And I can't be stopped by jingo; Tho' the pain I bear provokes me, And the smell of brimstone chokes me." Sumner calls to two African American men who witness the scene from a cliff, "Come Sambo! jump right on the Gridiron with the rest, while its hot and lively." They reply in the vernacular, "no you don't Massa Sumner; Old Secesh Debble hold dat Gridiron and I guess you burn your foot." Comments from the roasting Republicans demonstrate their disapproval of Grant., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1872 by Currier & Ives in the office of the Librarian of Congress in Washington., Purchase 1958., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., John Cameron was a Scottish lithographer who worked for many years with the renowned New York lithographic firm Currier and Ives.
Creator: Cameron, John, approximately 1828-, lithographer
Date: 1872
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1872-1 [6282.F]

Title: The Rail candidate
Description: Political cartoon questioning candidate Abraham Lincoln's ability to succeed in the presidential election of 1860 with the controversial antislavery plank as a part of the Republican Party’s platform. Depicts Lincoln with an expression of discomfort on his face and straddling a wooden rail labeled, "Republican Platform." He complains, "it is true I have split Rails, but I begin to feel as if this Rail would split me, it's the hardest stick I ever straddled." Carrying the front end of the rail is an African American man, portrayed as a racist caricature, who says in the vernacular, "Dis Nigger strong and willin, but it's awful hard work to carry Old Massa Abe on nothing but dis ere rail!!" The back end of the rail is carried by New York Tribune editor, abolitionist, and Lincoln supporter, Horace Greeley, who ensures that they will prove Lincoln can split rails and be elected President., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1860, by Currier & Ives, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Southern Distc. of N.Y., Probably drawn by Louis Maurer., Stamp on verso: L.A. DeVries., Purchase 1960., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Currier & Ives
Date: 1860
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1860-31R [6419.F]

Title: The question settled
Description: Cartoon depicting Abraham Lincoln as "Old Abe," a white cat who drives "Jeff," (i.e., Jefferson Davis) depicted as a grey striped cat with a noose around his neck from the "United States" food dish. The black cat, "Contraband," (i.e., African American Civil War freedom seeker) makes his way into the dish from the other side. The plate rests upon the Union flag and a map depicting the lower Southern States blockaded by figures of Union ships., Title from item., Possible date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., During the Civil War, the U.S government declared African American freedom seekers as "contraband of war.", Purchase 1970., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1862?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1862-12W [7870.F]

Title: A proslavery incantation scene or Shakespeare improved
Description: Antislavery print using an allegory of the cauldron scene from Macbeth to depict James Buchanan and the Democrats' contempt for the freesoilers following the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Depicts Buchanan, Stephen Douglas, and several animated Democrats, speaking in Shakespearian rhyme, gathered around a boiling cauldron labeled, "Double double, Free State trouble, Till Fremont men are straw & stubble." In the foreground, a white man kneels and blows on the fire, with a pistol labeled "Laws of Kansas" in his back pocket. The fire is fueled with anti-slavery literature, including "Beecher Sermons," "N.Y. Tribune," "Quincy’s Letters," "N.Y. Post," and "Boston Atlas." Buchanan, standing on a platform, states he endorses the laws of Kansas now in force and holds a paper labeled "Ostend Conference," (an attempt by the United States to negate an agreement with France and Great Britain to not annex enslaved-holding Cuba), over the cauldron. Beside him Douglas, holding a whip and shackles, calls for the blood of freemen and revels in the woe caused by his Kansas-Nebraska bill. Shackles, including one marked “Chattel Stock,” also rest at his feet. Many of the Democrats gathered around the kettle are depicted as pro-slavery, white men Southerners and refer favorably to Preston Brook's caning of Charles Sumner while others call out items to be thrown into the pot, such as "fillet of a Free Soil Frog" and the "Ostend conference plot.", Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1856-5W [5760.F.91]

Title: The precarious situation
Description: Cartoon addressing the tenuous position of Republican presidential nominee General Ulysses S. Grant as the candidate of a party whose radicals support African American civil rights and Reconstruction under military rule. Depicts Grant holding up a knife inscribed "military despotism" as he straddles the "radical platform" rope that is stretched across the "Salt River" (i.e., political disaster). One end of the rope is tied to a rifle labeled "military reconstruction." The other end is held by "Negro supremacy" depicted as an African American man, portrayed in racist caricature, barefooted, and attired in torn and worn clothes, who sits upon the tombstone of "Southern Confederacy." He asks in the vernacular, "Whar you be Massa Grant if I lef' go, yah! yah!!" Grant replies, "I'll fight it out if it takes all summer.", Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., Accessioned 1979., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1868]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1868-19aW [P.2275.3a]

Title: Practical illustration of the Virginia Constitution White man the bottom rail
Description: Cartoon promoting racist fears of the effects of equal rights for African Americans under Virginia's reconstructed constitution by portraying two captioned scenes where African Americans have power over white people. The first, a "Mixed School System," depicts a desegregated classroom in which a seated African American man teacher spanks a white boy as other students witness the punishment. The second scene, a "Negro Court and Jury," depicts an African American man attorney questioning a white woman witness in front of an integrated jury and audience including an African American spectator slumped over asleep in the front row of seats., Title from item., Date of publication inferred from content., Purchase 1969., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1868]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1868 Pra [7814.F]

Title: Practical illustration of the fugitive slave law
Description: Antislavery print depicting a fight between Northern abolitionists and supporters of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. In the left, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and an African American man both raise guns to protect an enslaved African American woman who is attired in a head kerchief, earrings, a short-sleeved dress, and shoes. She raises both arms in the air and clutches a handkerchief in her right hand and exclaims “Oh Massa Garrison protect me!!!” Garrison wraps his right arm around her and says, “Don’t be alarmed, Susanna, you’re safe enough.” In the right, the white man mercenary, attired in a top hat with a star on it, who may represent the federal marshals or commissioners authorized by the act (and paid) to apprehend freedom seekers, carries a noose and shackles. He sits astride Secretary of State Daniel Webster, who is on his hands and knees clutching the Constitution and bemoaning, "This, though constitutional, is extremely disagreeable." Behind them a white man, possibly John C. Calhoun, declares "We will give these fellows a touch of Old South Carolina" and carries two volumes labeled "Law and Gospel." Another white man carries a quill and ledger and says "I goes in for Law & Order." In the background, a number of men on both sides fight. A white man lies on the ground on his back. An African American man grabs a white man enslaver by the head and holds a whip while saying “It’s my turn now Old Slave Driver.” A "Temple of Liberty" stands in the background with two flags flying which read, "A day, an hour, of virtuous Liberty is worth an age of Servitude," and "All men are created free and equal.", Title from item., Probable place and date of publication supplied by Reilly., Weitenkampf attributed this cartoon to the New York artist Edward Williams Clay, but Reilly refutes this attribution on the grounds that the draftsmanship, signature, and political opinions are atypical of Clay., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1850 or 1851]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1851-6 [5760.F.104]

Title: Practical amalgamation
Description: Racist print promoting anti-abolitionists' fears of multiracial personal relationships. Depicts a parlor scene where two inter-racial couples court on a couch. In the left, an attractive white women sits on the lap of an African American man. The man, depicted in racist caricature with grotesque facial features, holds a guitar in his right hand as she engages him in a kiss. In the right, a rotund African American woman holds a fan in her right hand as she is wooed by a slender white man on his knees who kisses her left hand. Portraits of abolitionists Arthur Tappan, Daniel O'Connell (a radical Irish abolitionist), and John Quincy Adams are hung on the wall behind the couch. A white and black dog are in the left corner., Title from item., After E.W. Clay's Practical amalgamation (New York: Published and sold by John Childs, Lithographer, 119 Fulton Street, upstairs, 1839]., Purchase 1970., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: 1839
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1839 - Pra 2 [7897.F]

Title: Practical amalgamation
Description: Racist print promoting anti-abolitionists' fears of multiracial personal relationships. Depicts a parlor scene where two interracial couples court on a couch. In the left, an attractive white women sits on the lap of an African American man. The man, depicted in racist caricature with grotesque facial features, holds a guitar in his right hand as she engages him in a kiss. In the right, a rotund African American woman holds a fan in her right hand as she is wooed by a slender white man on his knees who kisses her left hand. Portraits of abolitionists Arthur Tappan, Daniel O'Connell (a radical Irish abolitionist), and John Quincy Adams are hung on the wall behind the couch. A white and black dog are in the left corner., Title from item., First of a series of five., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2015, p. 41., Purchase 1957., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Clay, born in Philadelphia, was a prominent caricaturist, engraver, and lithographer who created the "Life in Philadelphia" series which satirized middle-class African-Americans of the late 1820s and early 1830s.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date: 1839
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1839-Pra 1 [6207.F]

Title: Pore lil' Mose sends his Pa a valentine
Description: Racist cartoon containing vignettes about an African American family, portrayed in racist caricature, with the boy prankster Pore Lil' Mose giving valentines to his gal Happy Lil' Sal and his Pa. In the left, shows Miss Sally Sunbeam, portrayed in caricature and wearing her hair in pigtails with yellow bows and attired in a pink dress with a white ruffled collar, yellow stockings, and boots, standing with her dog. She smiles and holds up the valentine while Mose looks on from behind a fence. Below is a vignette depicting Pa angrily holding and reading his “comic” valentine, “Moses Pryor shif’less coon quit his job de first of June never works again till fall hates to ever work at all.” Mose’s mother, attired in a red headkerchief with white polka dots, a yellow shawl, and a blue dress, smiles as she looks over Pa’s shoulder. A younger brother, attired in a red and white sailor shirt with a green bow and green pants, stands behind Pa and scowls with his hands in his pockets. The next vignette, shows Mose fleeing the kitchen with only his legs visible running out the door as a mule looks on. Pa, tripping over the cat, flies through the air head down and legs up and carrying a stick in his hand. Ma leans back with her hand on her head as the plates, cutlery, and coffee pot are thrown from the kitchen table. In the top right is a portrait of Uncle Jack, wearing white hair and attired in a black top hat, a white and red striped shirt, a yellow vest with red polka dots, blue pants, red socks, and brown shoes, standing with his hands in his pockets. The image of Pa’s valentine depicts a racist caricature of an African American man stealing a chicken at night under the moonlight. Contains 21 lines of text written in the vernacular explicating the scenes ending with the line "Pore Lil' Mose.", Title from item., The "Por Lil' Mose" series was published in the New York Herald from 1901 until 1902., Purchase 1978., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Richard Felton Outcault (1868-1928) is renowned as the creator of the first published full page comic. He is also the creator of "Buster Brown."
Creator: Outcault, Richard Felton, 1863-1928, artist
Date: [ca. 1901]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1901 Por [8391.F]

Title: Political caricature no.3. The abolition catastrophe, or the November smash-up
Description: Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1864 by Bromley & Co. New York in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York., Text printed on recto: Single Copies sent pr. mail post paid 25 cts; 5 Copies $1.00; 50 express $9.00; 100 $16.00. Express charges paid by purchaser. Address: Bromley & Co., Box 4265 New York City. Write your address: Post Office, County and State plainly., Third in a series of four., McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Cartoon criticizing the Republican's self-destructive support of abolitionism during the presidential election of 1864 depicting the "Union" train of Democrats steaming toward the White House passing the wrecked Republican train. Candidate George McClellan engineers the smooth running Democratic train powered by "Democracy" and adorned with the flag "Constitution." Several of the passengers including Horatio Seymour praise McClellan as others mock the Republican Party's demise. The Republican train has crashed into several rocks symbolic of the war including "Abolitionism," "Confiscation," and "Emancipation." The crash ejects Abraham Lincoln. Several African Americans, who are depicted in racist caricature and speak in the vernacular, are crushed and maimed. Tossed and injured prominent Republican passengers include Edwin Stanton; Horace Greeley; Henry Ward Beecher who holds an African American baby; Charles Sumner; William Seward; John McKeon; Benjamin Butler and Thurlow Weed; many of whom pray for help. "John Bull," Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, and France's Napoleon III observe and comment on the crash's effect on the puppet empire of Mexico. Another observer, recently resigned Secretary Salmon P. Chase, expresses relief that he left the Republican train in the "nick of time."
Date: 1864
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1864-39R [5793.F.2]

Title: Political "Blondins" crossing Salt River
Description: Cartoon lampooning the perilous nature of the platforms of the 1860 presidential candidates caused by the divisive issue of the extension of slavery to the territories. Depicts the candidates' various methods to cross the "Salt River" (i.e., political disaster) between the "North" and "South." Republican Abraham Lincoln, near the "South," wobbles at the end of a too short rail. The rail, balanced on the "Abolition Rock," is unsuccessfully weighed down by the precariously balanced "Tribune" editor, Horace Greeley. Lincoln curses Greeley who is "accustomed" to the "Salt River." Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas attempts to balance on the tightrope "Non Intervention," and yells for "Help" from the excessive weight of "Squatter Sovereignty" on his balancing pole. Southern Democrat Samuel Breckenridge rides the shoulders of the President and "old public functionary" James Buchanan as he crosses the tightrope "Slavery Extension." Constitutional Unionists John Bell and running mate Edward Everett stand on the "Constitutional Bridge" mocking and pitying the other candidates who are not satisfied with the bridge built by the "patriots of 76" which connects the "two shores in an indissoluble bond of union.", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1860, by Currier & Ives, in the Clerk's office of the District Court, for the Southn Dist of N.Y., Manuscript note on recto: "Blondin celebrated for having walked over Niagara Falls on a tightrope, gave the idea for this caricature." On June 30, 1859, Jean Francois Gravelet Blondin, a professional tight-rope artist trained under P.T. Barnum, was the first man to successfully cross the falls., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Currier & Ives
Date: 1860
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1860-30W [6428.F]

Title: The pious Mr. All-bone, taking leave of his directors previous to his departure for Europe
Description: Cartoon about the Panic of 1857 satirizing the dubious overseas departure of the Bank of Pennsylvania president Thomas Allibone preceding the failure of the financial institution in the fall of 1857. Allibone claimed he departed for Europe for health reasons with the support of the Board of Director. The board later charged he resigned while in debt $200,000 to the bank. Shows the Bank of Pennsylvania board wishing a teary-eye Allibone farewell at the "Steamer Europe Sail" wharf. The board stands on "Bank of Pennsylvania" charters and many sneer and hold handkerchiefs to their faces. To the rear of the group, a white woman "reduced to absolute want" from the bank failure, stands with her children, including a baby at her breast, and asks one of the board members "could you not through your influence, obtain me a situation as housekeeper or school teacher?" The member jeers that his influence is "for his friends" and she should get "some tickets for soup." At the front of the group, the wart-nosed, rotund head of the board, shakes Allibone's hand. He assures the departing president of the entire respect and sympathy for his "good care" of the funds of the "Board, and the Widows, and Orphans." He hopes Allibone will return with "renovated health and strength" as well as a purchased title that includes "Gentleman of the Grand Order of the Rag Mill and the Check Marked Good.", Allibone stands on several sheets of "stock" near his valises. He holds a handkerchief to his face, and carries the book of "Common Prayer" in his coat pocket. He responds that if "a liberal expenditure of THEIR money" restores his health that he will attempt to purchase a title. He also suggests that his well-wisher go to church regularly, keep out of jail, and keep his breeches buttoned up and he "will sail through this crisis with flying colors." In the right, an African American woman peddler holds her nose and states in the vernacular that it is because of the "bad odor of dis paper! won't git much fur dis." Beside her, a white boy fishing at the pier remarks to his wriggling, hooked worm that "yer bound to be catched at last." Also shows an African American man, attired in worn and torn clothing, seated and chewing a stick in front of an overturned barrel while a white cabman races his horse-drawn coach down the street of grocery stores in the background. The driver hollers "Stop him! He owes me 130 dollars for Cab-hire." Groceries advertised include onions, molasses, soft sawder (i.e., blarney), sugar, oil, and vinegar., Artist probably John L. Magee., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Weitenkampf incorrectly provides date of 1837., John L. Magee's print "The Dreadful Accident on the North Pennsylvania Railroad" (1856) lithographed on the verso. [7663.Fb], Purchase 1968., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Magee, John L., artist
Date: [ca. 1857]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1857-Pious [7663.Fa]

Title: Philadelphia fashions, 1837
Description: Racist cartoon depicting middle class African American Philadelphians used to arouse Northern anti-Black fears that well-to-do African Americans threatened the racial status quo. Depicts a physically attractive and elegantly dressed African American man and woman couple who have stopped during a stroll. The woman, attired in a large bonnet, elegant gown, and holding a parasol asks in the vernacular, "What you look at Mr. Frederick Augustus?" The man, attired in a suit, a top hat, and holding a walking cane in one hand and a monocle to his eye with the other answers, "I look at dat White loafer wot looks at me. I guess he from New York." The man and woman also each wear broaches depicting portraits. The couple are possibly prominent African American Philadelphians Frederick Augustus Hinton and Elizabeth Willson Hinton., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1837, by H.R. Robinson in the Clerk's Office of the Dist Court of the U.S. of the Southern District of N. York., Due to the similar content of this caricature to the prints from the series, "Life in Philadelphia," the lithograph has been catalogued as a part of the series., Purchase 1958., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., E.W. Clay (1799-1857), born in Philadelphia, was a prominent caricaturist, engraver, and lithographer who created the "Life in Philadelphia" series which racially lampooned middle-class African American Philadelphians of the late 1820s and early 1830s.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date: 1837
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1837 - Phi [6281.F]

Title: The people putting responsibility to the test or the downfall of the kitchen cabinet and collar presses
Description: Cartoon predicting the dire consequences to follow President Jackson's withdrawal of federal funds from the Bank of the United States. Depicts a riot in which Supreme Court Justice John Marshall warns that "the day of retribution is at hand" as anti-bank fiscal advisors Reuben Whitney and Thomas Ellicott use a rope to pull down a statue of Justice, depicted as a white woman holding scales and stepping on a snake, from a pedestal labeled "Constitution." An angry mob of white men farmers, laborers, and tradesmen carry instruments including axes, pitchforks, and shovels and papers labeled, “Broken Bank.” They fight and demand the recharter of the bank, shouting "Send back the deposites! Recharter the Bank!" and "Come back old responsibility." In the right, Jackson escapes on the back of "Jack Downing" cursing Postmaster General Kendall, "By the Eternal Major Downing; I find Ive been a mere tool to that Damn'd Amos [Kendall] and his set, the sooner I cut stick the better." In the left background, under "Senate Chamber," Henry Clay gloats to Daniel Webster and John Calhoun, "Behold Senators the fulfilment of my predictions." In the left foreground, two African American men, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in the vernacular, predict freedom and the ascension to the throne of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, "Hurrah! for Massa Garison, den he shall be King!" A Jewish banker, portrayed in caricature, undercuts a sailor offering him a ten dollar bank note, "Mine Got that ish one of the Pet Bankhs I'll give you one Dollar for the Ten." In the right foreground, newspapers supportive of Jackson, "collar presses," symbolized as dogs with human heads labeled "Evening Post, N. York Standard, Journal of Commerce, Albany Argus," run away chained together., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York by T.W. Whitley in the year 1834, and for sale at 104 Broadway., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Whitley was a mid-19th-century New York landscape and figure painter who also wrote about art and drama for the New York Herald.
Creator: Whitley, T. W. (Thomas W.), artist
Date: 1834
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1834-7 [1884.F.3]

Title: A peep into the Antifederal Club
Description: Satire of an Anti-Federalist (ie. Democratic-Republican) Club reflecting the Federalists characterizations of the clubs as atheistic secret societies with a debased membership that promoted revolutionary action and mob rule. Possibly Thomas Jefferson, a founder and leader of the Democratic-Republicans, orates to club members including: a Citizen Genet, a supporter of Edmond Genet, the minister of the French Republic who promoted the principles of the French Revolution for America; naval hero and New York radical Commodore Livingston; Philadelphia astronomer David Rittenhouse peering through his telescope at a satire of the "Creed of the Democratic Party;" the devil; an obese drunkard damning the Federal Government; New York Governor DeWitt Clinton, and an African American man referred to by another member as "Citizen Mungo.", Title from item., Manuscript note on recto: This Caricature the work of an Artist of our own Country is presented to the Library Company by the friends of that Institution., Inscribed: Price one half dollar., LCP exhibition catalogue: Made in America #15., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: August 16, 1793
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons -1793-1w [5760.F.6]

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