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Title: Much ado about nothing or a militia court-martial!!
Description: Spoof on the decadence and pretensions of the American local militiamen of the Jacksonian era showing a courtmartial of a militiaman. Several white officers sit around a table, many dozing, others commenting on the trial's length, stipend, and eventual outcome. Behind them rest oversize militia hats and a sword inscribed in Latin, "Guided by Patriotism." Two African American men, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in the vernacular, presume that the officer holding the "List of Witnesses" and who is inquiring about the defendant’s profession "...mus be Col. Pluck or some sich great man." The defendant claims that he is "a self taught gentleman" who "showed considerable genius for this profession." Col. Pluck was an illiterate hostler elected colonel of the 84th Pennsylvania militia in a controversial election in 1824., Title from item., Artist supplied by Reilly., Possible publication date supplied by Weitenkampf., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Johnston, known as the American Cruikshank, was a respected comic illustrator, engraver, and lithographer.
Creator: Johnston, David Claypoole, 1799-1865, artist
Date: [between 1832 and 1835]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1832-3 [7876.F]

Title: Jim Crow, the American mountebank performing at the Grand Theatre
Description: Full-length, caricatured portrait depicting Thomas D. Rice, known as the "father of American minstrelsy." Depicts Rice in Blackface as his African American racist shyster character of "Jim Crow" during his first performance in London. He is portrayed with exaggerated features and mannerisms. He dances and sings a version of the minstrel standard, "Jim Crow," in front of an audience of white British men, including the King. The song, which pokes fun at Americans, refers to William Blackstone and William Pitt Chatham, two influential English jurists, who wrote about early American law and politics. Blackface minstrelsy is a popular entertainment form, originating in the United States in the mid-19th century and remaining in American life through the 20th century. The form is based around stereotypical and racist portrayals of African Americans, including mocking dialect, parodic lyrics, and the application of Black face paint; all designed to portray African Americans as othered subjects of humor and disrespect. Blackface was a dominant form for theatrical and musical performances for decades, both on stage and in private homes. Jim Crow (mid to late 19th century) was a Minstrel character representing enslaved/rural Black manhood as foolish, lazy, interested in shirking labor., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Text printed on the recto: I come from America a long time ago, Since which I larn to wheel about & jump Jim Crow, Him used to study Blackstone ebry morn & arter noon, Me charm de House where Chatham died & dance inde saloon. Wheel about & turn about & do jis so. Ebry time I wheel about I jumpt Jim Crow., Description of Blackface minstrelsy and minstrel characters from Dorothy Berry, Descriptive Equity and Clarity around Blackface Minstrelsy in H(arvard) T(heater) C(ollection) Collections, 2021., Accessioned 1982., 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: [1836]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1836 Jim [P.8738]

Title: The abolition Garrison in danger & the narrow escape of the Scotch Ambassador
Description: Anti-abolition print celebrating the 1835 attack on William Lloyd Garrison in Boston by "gentleman of property and standing" preceding his scheduled speaking engagement before the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. Depicts Garrison at the center of an angry mob of white men. He has a noose around his neck and his newspaper "The Liberator" in his pocket and yells, "Help Children of Africer - help brothers." Scottish abolitionist George Thompson, who was rumored to be the Society's speaker, flees the scene attired in a women's clothes. He states with a Scottish burr that he will not be a "Martyr in sie black cause." As the mob screams, "Down with the incendiary abolitionists," and calls for Garrison's lynching and arrest, Garrison is being pulled by the noose by several of the rioters and steps upon editions of the "Evening Post" and "Human Rights," serials sympathetic to the abolitionist cause., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Text on recto: Boston Oct. 21st, 1835., Purchase 1958., 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: [1835]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1835-10W [6259.F]

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 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: 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: 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: The Great Rohan & the cattle market
Description: Cartoon depicting a pasture with a tree at the center that shows a white man growing from it. The man holds a paper entitled, "Coal is coal," and states that he needs his roots covered. On one of the branches, perches a figure with the body of a bird and the head of a man who states, "The rascally Whigs killed poor Cilley," a reference to the death of Maine Congressman Jonathan Cilley in a duel with Kentucky Congressman William J. Graves. Surrounding this figure are white men and cattle. In the right, a man attired in a long coat and top hat states that the cattle will not feed on "Rohans" and “if we could whip in the miserable conservatives, it would be really ‘contholing.’” Two other men scrounge on the ground, one labeled "Green Pear" who asks to be let up the "Rohan," and the other, who bemoans being overshadowed by the image of a bloody hand. In the left, an African American man portrayed in racist caricature speaks in the vernacular, “Hold on Massa Gineral, it be oh no use to go to dat market,” as he tries to reign in cattle with human heads that are labeled "Hampton Bull." In the right background, an onlooker warns a cattle driver who is being trampled that he can not drive them., Purchase 1987., 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: [1838]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1838-19 [P.9192.3]

Title: Johnny Q., introducing the Haytien Ambassador to the ladies of Lynn, Mass. Respectfully inscribed to Miss Caroline Augusta Chase, & the 500 ladies of Lynn who wish to marry Black husbands
Description: Anti-abolition print satirizing the Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society which was successful in its petition to the state legislature to abolish race-proscriptive laws, including a ban on interracial marriage. Depicts a parlor where the Society's members, composed of unattractive white women and African American men, have gathered to be introduced to the fictitious Haitian Ambassador, General Marmalade, by John Quincy Adams. The ambassador, portrayed in racist caricature and attired in an uniform and powdered wig, takes his hat off and bows as he holds a monocle up. He lasciviously addresses the women in the crowd in broken French and vernacular, "Mesdames votre trés humble serviteur! me no speak much Anglish-En regardant ces charmants bontons de rose de Lynn l’eau vient dans la bouche! Excuse bot de charming rose buds ob Lynn make vater in my mouse." The women await their introduction and remark about the ambassador's "lovely" and "beautiful" features, as well as his overall attractiveness. African American men, portrayed in racist caricature and attired in elegant suits, stand behind the women and comment in the vernacular about the ambassador, "Demd fine specimen of a man! pon honor." In the right background, a white man servant and a white woman servant enter the room carrying trays of food and drinks., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1839, by John Childs, in the clerk's office, in the District Court for the Southern District of New York., Caroline Augusta Chase headed the Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society., Purchase 1959., 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., 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 1820's and early 1830's.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date: 1839
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1839-25w [6333.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: 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: 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 Freedman's Bureau."
Description: Visual pun on the Freedman's Bureau, a benevolent government organization, which aided formerly enslaved African Americans in the South by providing food, housing, and jobs, as well as establishing schools, hospitals, and a court system. Depicts a simply furnished attic room where an African American man, portrayed in racist caricature, ties his tie as he stands beside his bed and before his dresser/bureau. Atop the bureau, which has its top drawer open, is a stand with a broken mirror upon which you see the man's reflection. A portrait of Lincoln and a bow and fiddle hang on the wall. His overcoat and hat rest on a chair with a broken back behind him., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year A.D. 1868 by Currier & Ives in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York., 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., Worth was a comic and genre artist whose popular work was published by the lithographic firm Currier & Ives.
Creator: Worth, Thomas, 1834-1917, artist
Date: 1868
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1868-2W [7687.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: Fate of the radical party
Description: Cartoon predicting that the radical members of the Republican Party will be responsible for the party's defeat in the 1868 presidential election. Depicts a steaming locomotive in the shape of a bottle labeled "A Radical Cure - Lowell Bitters" in which Massachusetts representative Benjamin F. Butler is encased. The train heads toward the "Dutch Gap" being dug by incumbent Andrew Johnson holding a shovel of "Veto" dirt (reference to Johnson's numerous vetoes of radical reconstruction policies). Riding on and in the train are: Presidential nominee Ulysses S. Grant who smokes from the pipe-shaped train's smoke stack which is adorned with the head of an African American man, portrayed in racist caricature; Thaddeus Stevens as the engineer; and Vice-Presidential nominee Schuyler Colfax. On the tracks in the background, an African American man, portrayed in racist caricature, sits on a stool and writes atop the pedestal "Fame," and the "Constitutional Line" train proceeds to the White House "Depot.", Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., Purchase 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 - 1868-14w [P.8503]

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: A " dodge" that won't work
Description: Satire of 1872 Liberal Republican presidential nominee Horace Greeley's attempt to court the African American vote despite his condemnation of civil rights policies under Reconstruction. Depicts Greeley with former Confederate President Jefferson Davis hovering behind him holding shackles and a whip (a reference to Greeley's partial payment of Davis' prison bond). Greeley asks the two African American men if they will vote for him, "Of course Sam and Ceasar, you’ll vote for me your old friend Horace Greely?" The men reply that they will vote for Ulysses Grant. "No Mr. Greely we can’t vote for you, for behind you we see Jeff Davis and behind him is the old lash and bondage." "We vote, as all true hearted colored men will vote; for Mr. Lincoln’s friend General Grant who conquered the rebellion & secured our freedom.", 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 at Washington., Accessioned 1979., 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 several 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 - 6W [P.2275.2]

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 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 great November contest. Patriotism vs bummerism
Description: Racist cartoon depicting the 1868 Presidential Election as a carriage race between the "patriotic" Democrats and the "bum" Republicans who support Reconstruction. Depicts the elegant Democratic carriage with the banner "This is a White Man's Government" pulled by the horses with the heads of Horatio Seymour and Francis P. Blair racing passed the stalled Republican wagon steered by the asses with the heads of nominees Ulysses Grant and Schuyler Colfax. In the Democrats' carriage are four allegorical figures: Liberty, depicted as a white woman holding the Constitution and a banner which reads "Our Glorious Union Distinct, like the Billows, One, Like the Sea' This is a White Man's Government!"; Navigation, depicted as a white woman holding a miniature ship; Agriculture, depicted as a white woman holding sheaves of wheat and a scythe; and Labor, represented by a bearded white man with a hammer and flywheel. The Republican wagon passengers include radical Thaddeus Stevens, the grim reaper, and an African American man and woman couple, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in the vernacular. Massachusetts Republican representative Benjamin F. Butler tries to push the stalled wagon passed the bones of those who paid "The Price of Nigger Freedom" and the rocks of "Ruined Commerce," "Debt," and "Negro Supremacy.", In the background, a cheering crowd brandishing American flags near the U.S. Capitol await the winning Seymour and Blair while on the building's other side a group of African American men dance. In the left foreground, Henry Ward Beecher and Horace Greeley play a shellgame looking for Grant and an African American man and woman, attired in torn and worn clothes, discuss another man returning to his former enslaver. In the right foreground, an African American man sits behind a table labeled, "Pompey Smash, Salt River Line Ticket Agent" and sells tickets to "Salt River" (i.e., political disaster) to a white man with a bag labeled, "J.G.B. Boston Carpet Bagger." Behind them, two African American men and a drunken white man holding a bottle talk about the Republican wagon., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to an Act of Congress in the year 1868 by Bromley & Co. in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the U.S. for the southern District of New York., 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 - 1868-15 [5760.F.125]

Title: Happy Lil' Sal as the queen of the May
Description: Racist cartoon containing vignettes about a group of African American children, portrayed in caricature, at a May Day party where Happy Lil’ Sal and Por Lil' Mose are crowned as Queen and King. In the left, Mose, attired in a gold crown, a blue sailor suit, and blue shoes, stands holding the may pole. Sal, attired in a gold crown, red roses around her head and neck, a pink dress, yellow stockings, and white shoes, carries sunflowers. At the bottom, a group of African American children hold ribbons and dance around the may pole in exaggerated movements as a boy sits on a wooden fence playing the banjo. The center vignette depicts white men thieves, attired in torn and worn clothes, stealing baskets with the children’s lunch. In the right, a rain storm soaks Mose and Sal, and the wind blows the children off their feet while holding umbrellas. Along the top, shows the parade of children, led by Sal and Mose, followed by a boy playing the drum, children holding ribbons on the may pole, a dog pulling a wagon labeled, “the Prince of May” carrying a small boy, boys carrying the picnic baskets, and a boy playing the horn. Contains 25 lines of text written in the vernacular explicating the vignettes which end with the line "Por lil' Mose., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1901 by the New York Herald Co., 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 known 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: 1901
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1901 Hap [P.8435]

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: 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 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: Jeff. Davis., the compromiser, in a tight place
Description: Cartoon expressing Northern exasperation with Jefferson Davis's attempt to negotiate for peace in 1865. Depicts Davis being slammed between the doors of the "United States Senate" by Uncle Sam and an armed Zouave soldier. Davis carrying on his back a bundle of "Compromise Goods. Latest Styles" begs the unsympathetic soldier to let him alone as Uncle Sam holding a noose declares that Davis has cheated him too often and deserves execution. In the left, an African American man, portrayed in racist caricature, holds a "Trinkets" box and says in the vernacular, "It pears to me, Massa Davis bring his goods to de wrong market dis time. All de better for cullored folks, Yah! Yah!", Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., 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.
Date: [1865]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1865-1W [5795.F.a]

Title: The first of May 1865 or gen'l moving day in Richmond Va
Description: Cartoon relishing the surrender of the Confederacy to the Union depicting a Southern general moving from his war damaged home which is to undergo a "Sheriff Sale" and to be let by "Lincoln & Co." Three white Southerners and two African American men, one who thumbs his nose, witness the General and a mover begin to load a "C.S.A." (i.e., Confederate States of America) cart. The cart, to be pulled by two dogs, is situated next to a "C.S.A Treasury" box of "Waste Paper" that is being urinated upon by another dog. The mover is burdened by several packages, many falling off his back, labeled with the names of Confederate states., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1865, by H. & W. Voight in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York., 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., Kimmel and Forster was a 19th-century firm known more so for their engraving than their lithography.
Creator: Kimmell & Forster, lithographers
Date: 1865
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1865-4W [P.2275.29]

Title: John Brown exhibiting his hangman
Description: Cartoon depicting the imaginary execution of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis with the ghost of John Brown as his executioner. Jefferson, holding a sour apple and attired in a women's dress and bonnet, swings imprisoned in a birdcage which hangs from a gallows. To the left of the cage Brown rises from a hole in the earth and points accusingly at Davis. In actuality Davis had no direct involvement with Brown's execution. Beneath the cage, African American men and women minstrel figures, portrayed in racist caricature, rejoice, dance, clap, and thumb their noses at Davis., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in 1865 by G. Querner in the Clerk's Office of the Sup. Court D.C., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook related to Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy. 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.
Date: 1865
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoon - 1865-16R [5795.F.b]

Title: Congressional surgery legislative quackery
Description: Cartoon addressing the defeated South's resistance to the pending post war amendments which would declare equal rights for African Americans. Depicts a doctor's office where the seated "Dr. North" counsels "Patient South," who stands before him with his arm in a sling. He proposes that after the removal of the South's legs the "Constitutional Amendment" peg leg, which rests on his desk, will support him well. The South states that he "Can't See it." In the left, a young African American person crouches on the floor beside the doctor's chair. Behind the desk stands a bookshelf labeled "Congressional Surgery, Legislative Quackery" where a skull and a bottle of "Black Draught" are displayed. Contains three lines of dialogue below the image., Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., Date of publication suggested by Reilly is 1860 as the content suggests that the cartoon was published following the proposed Crittenden and Douglas Compromises., 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: [1866?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1866 - 10W [5760.F.115]

Title: Congressional surgery legislative quackery
Description: Cartoon addressing the defeated South's resistance to the pending post war amendments which would declare equal rights for African Americans. Depicts a doctor's office where the seated "Dr. North" counsels "Patient South," who stands before him with his arm in a sling. He proposes that after the removal of the South's legs the "Constitutional Amendment" peg leg, which rests on his desk, will support him well. The South states that he "Can't See it." In the left, a young African American person crouches on the floor beside the doctor's chair. Behind the desk stands a bookshelf labeled "Congressional Surgery, Legislative Quackery" where a skull and a bottle of "Black Draught" are displayed. Contains three lines of dialogue below the image., Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., Date of publication suggested by Reilly is 1860 as the content suggests that the cartoon was published following the proposed Crittenden and Douglas Compromises., RVCDC, Accessioned 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1866?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1866 - 10aW [P.8698]

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: [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: [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: All on hobbies, gee up, gee ho!
Description: Cartoon depicting the possible candidates for the presidential election of 1840, riding hobby horses symbolizing their issues. President Van Buren leads the pack cheering on his "old hickory nag," "Sub Treasury," named after his financial program, which allowed independent agencies to administer federal funds. Politicians following Van Buren include: bullionist Senator Thomas Hart Benton on "Specie Currency," his "golden poney" which carries "more weight than any of them"; Senators Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, leading opponents to Van Buren's fiscal policy, bickering over their shared horse named after the defunct "United States Bank"; South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun riding his "consistent" horse "State Rights and Nullification"; 1836 presidential nominee William Henry Harrison, attired in uniform, on his "Anti-Masonic" horse that keeps a "pretty easy pace" but may "lose his wind" if another scandal like the abduction and murder of mason William Morgan does not occur; and Congressman John Quincy Adams steering away from the group on his "Ebony" horse "Abolition.", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entd accordd to Act of Congress in the year 1838, by H.R. Robinson, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York., Artist's initial lower left corner., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Described in Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American political caricaturist of the Jacksonian era (PhD diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 205., Accessioned 1989., 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, lithographer
Date: 1838
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1838-1 [P.9249.8]

Title: A confederacy against the Constitution and the rights of the people with an historical view of the component parts of this diabolical transaction
Description: Cartoon during the Bank War satirizing the Whig Party as greedy, anti-democratic, pro-Bank, pro-business infidels who worship in the Temple of Mammon to the false god of riches. Atop the temple, a white man, holding a flag inscribed "No Veto! The Bank! Down with Democracy!" kneels on a pedestal inscribed "Bank Candidate. War, Pestilence, and Famine." Within the temple sit symbolic and political figures including: the Devil representing the "Hartford Convention" of 1815, which debated Northern secession; the "High Church" as a clergyman pleading for donations to preach; the "High Priest" Henry Clay with his "U.S. Bank Book" sitting on his throne the "Chair of State"; the "High Chancellor," Bank of the United States president, Nicholas Biddle pouring out a bag of money to buy newspaper editors; a Northerner ("High Tarrif") discussing slavery, "You Southern Barons have black slaves will you not allow us to make white slaves of our poor population in our Manufacturing Baronies"; and southern pro-nullification senator John C. Calhoun ("No Tariff"), who bemoans his association with Whigs in his personal campaign against political rival Martin Van Buren. In the foreground, worshipers, including monkeys, pray and are chained near a printing press, pro-Bank newspapers, and flags and banners. The flags and banners denigrate "Jefferson," "democracy," and "equal rights" and support "high tariffs," the "merchant class," the "Bank of the United States," and "white slavery.", Title from item., Artist's initial lower left corner: H., Probably published by labor radical Seth Luther., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Lib. Company. Annual report, 2001, p. 27, 30., 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1833?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1833-20 [5760.F.43]

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: John Bull and the Nicaragua question John's duplicity and disregard of treaty obligations
Description: Cartoon criticizing Great Britain's support of the Costa Rican opposition to American pro-slavery filibuster and self-installed president of Nicaragua William Walker, as a violation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, which barred American and British development of Central America. Depicts a rotund John Bull, with a patch over one eye and guns strapped to his chest, trampling the "Clayton Bulwer Treaty." He hands a rifle to a Costa Rican man, attired in a straw hat, poncho, and torn and worn pants, who carries a dagger in his right hand and declares, "Death to Los Americanos!" Bull remarks to the Costa Rican that he "agreed not to meddle" and will help settle the "hash" of the filibuster, while under his breath he mutters "after we've settled their hash, I'll settle your hash." In the right is a chained and caged "Russian Bear," and on top of the cage is a "Turkey," symbolizing the nation (allusions to British success in the Crimean War). In the left, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, their several children playing beside and with them, mock the "fuss" that Emperor Napoleon III of France makes over his young son. Napoleon gushes that the child's "foot shall fit se Neck of France" as his son's white woman nanny, holding a bowl of "PAP" (i.e, political patronage), discusses the King's assistance to Costa Rica and her "diapering" of the "blessed baby." In the background, combat ensues., Title from item., Date supplied by Weitenkampf., Political cartoon "The right man in the right place" lithographed on verso. [LCP political cartoon 1856-4 5760.F.10b (copy)]., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., 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.
Creator: Magee, John L.
Date: [1857]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1857-1w [5760.F.10a]

Title: The national game. Three "outs" and one "run" Abraham winning the ball
Description: Cartoon influenced by the 1860 presidential candidates' position on the extension of slavery and comparing the results of the 1860 presidential election with a completed baseball game. In the right, Lincoln, the winner who represents the "Wide Awake Club," stands on “Home Base” and holds a rail-shaped bat labeled, "Equal Rights and Free Territory." He speaks in baseball terms to his competitors and declares "a good bat and strike a fair ball to make a clean score & home run." In the left is Constitutional Unionist John Bell of the "Union Club" with his "Fusion" bat who cries “foul.” Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas of the "Little Giant Club" with his "Non-Intervention" bat says, “I thought our fusion would be a short stop to his career.” Southern Democrat John C. Breckenridge of the "Disunion Club" carries his "Slavery Extension" bat and holds his nose with his left hand as he states that he “better leave for Kentucky…we are completely ‘skunk’d.’” In the center, a skunk lifts its tail and sprays., Probably drawn by Louis Maurer., 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 Distt of N.Y., Purchase 1967., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Currier & Ives
Date: c1860
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1860-42 [7612.F]

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: The battle of Bull's Run
Description: Pro-Confederate cartoon containing eighteen numbered figures and scenes to satirize the mayhem at the Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. Figures include: (1) Beauregard's (2) Jefferson Davis's and (3) Johnston's Confederate Headquarters; (4) Maryland Elzy's Battiry [sic]; (5) Union General Irvin McDowell; (6) Union General Daniel Tyler; (7) the Bull's Run; (8) New York Fire Zouaves; (9) New York 12th Regiment; (10) Union Sherman's Battiry [sic]; (11) Congressman Alfred Ely; (12) barricade for Members of Congress; (13) civilian spectators Lovejoy & Co. and (14) ladies as sputatiers; (15) Biddle, Brown & Co., members of Congress; (16) Union Blenker's Brigade; (17) Senator Wilson; (18) and the U.S. Dragoon. Depicts in the foreground: the Zouaves driving a bull that holds the American flag in its tail and is labeled, "Expenses for 100 Mill., Bad Business, Property, but no Security" in front of the retreating General Tyler and the New York regiment. The troops flee on the road to Washington past Union soldiers who lay dying and lamenting their foolishness near a "fat left-tenant" stating "God Save the Union" and Senator Wilson. Wilson refuses the pleas of a wounded soldier as he has "a wife and children to care for." In the background, Confederate troops march over a hill and mock the Union's abolitionist stance and lack of ammunition; Sherman's Battiry [sic] loads a cannon; Congressmen seek shelter behind a barricade of "U.S." wagons; civilian spectators Brown & Company flee by carriage as they deny aid to a white man who hollers, "you are more unmerciful then the overseer"; Congressman Ely, captured by the Confederates, offers a monetary bribe in exchange for his "liberty"; and the Union's Blenker's Brigade march into the battle in front of their retreating fellow soldiers General Irvin McDowell and the "U.S. Dragoon" who gallop "Home, Sweet, Home." Contains a key to depicted figures below the image., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Accessioned 1979., 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 - 1861-42W [P.2275.11a]

Title: The man that blocks up the highway
Description: Cartoon satirizing President Andrew Johnson and his reconstruction policies as sympathetic to Southerners and an obstruction to Radical Republican policies and African American civil rights. Depicts Johnson with jackass ears standing at a road block labeled "veto" and greeting pardoned former Confederates, including an unrepentant white man counterfeiter and two white men ruffians. The ruffians brag about the murder of major-generals, curse the Yankees, and threaten an overthrow of the North and nullification of civil rights after the re-establishment of a Southern presence in the Congress. As Johnson welcomes the Southerners, he orders Secretary of State William Seward, attired as a servant, to pass around whiskey, belittles the barred "Radical Republicans," and boasts about his veto power. Behind the "veto" barricade, carriages driven by Republicans and labeled "Freedman's Bu[reau]," "Civil Rights," and "[Recon]struction," including one attended by an African American man portrayed in racist caricature, stand idle (an allusion to Johnson's vetoes of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the renewal of the Freedman's Bureau). The drivers compare Johnson with Marc Anthony who was "blowing before the People about his great love for the Constitution while conspiring with Caesar for the overthrow of the Republic." In the right, near crates of "Southern Appointments" and "Southern Pardons," John Bull and French dictator Napoleon III stand. Napoleon praises Johnson, proclaiming him "Emperor Americane." Also includes, a shack adorned with the sign "Andy Johnson Tribune of the People" in the background., 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: [1866]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1866-5W [5760.F.111]

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: Abraham's dream! "Coming events cast their shadows before."
Description: Cartoon lampooning Lincoln's belief in prophetic dreams and fear of losing the presidential election of 1864. Above the dreaming, sleeping body of Lincoln, Democratic candidate George McClellan arrives at the White House. He witnesses Liberty, depicted as a white woman, hurling the decapitated head of an African American man, portrayed in racist caricature, at a fleeing Lincoln as he states, "This don't remind me of any joke!!" Lincoln is attired in a plaid Scotsman's cap and cape, an allusion to his disguise in response to an assassination threat before his first inauguration, and carries an inscribed scroll, "To whom it may concern," a reference to his written edict that he would only receive, not seek, offers of peace from the Confederacy., 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 New York., Probably drawn by Louis Maurer., 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 - 1864-41 [6374.F]

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: A case of infectious fever (from "84 South Street, 4 doors from Callowhill Street," Philadelphia) before the New York Board of Health
Description: Cartoon criticizing the New York Board of Health's handling of the 1820 yellow fever epidemic based upon August 1820 newspaper accounts about "John C. Williams," a drunk man falsely claiming to be from Philadelphia who was misdiagnosed with the fever. Depicts several doctors and officials from the Board, with handkerchiefs over their mouths, surrounding and discussing the condition of the bed-ridden Williams who is vomiting into a bucket and exclaiming, "drunk, drunk, oh lord." Despite the protestation of the African American housekeeper who holds a tankard and states that he is drunk from "de toast and toddy," the various doctors, including prominent physicians Felix Pascalis, Samuel Latham Mitchill, and President of the Board, David Hosack, discuss his symptoms of "black vomit," "delerium," "a red nose," and "difficulty of speech," as evidence of "yellow fever." Others including New York Post editor William Coleman and Marine Hospital attending physician Joseph Bayley discuss treatments and his being sent to quarantine., Date and place of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., LCP exhibition catalogue: Made in America, p. 24., 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: [1820]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - [1820] - 1W [P.2275.24]

Title: Columbia's noblest sons
Description: Memorial print published after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in April 1865 containing portraits, allegorical figures, vignettes, and pictorial details. Depicts Columbia, depicted as a white woman and attired in classical garb and a Phrygian cap, crowning a bust-length portrait of George Washington (left) and bust-length portrait of Lincoln (right) with laurel wreaths. Flagpole finials with flags appear as wings behind her. Documents, partially rolled, associated with Washington and Lincoln, the "Declaration of Independence 1776" and the "Emancipation Proclamation 1863," appear below the portraits of the presidents. Each president's life dates are inscribed on the edge. On the left are vignettes with scenes from the Revolution depicting the Boston Tea Party "Dec. 18th 1773"; the signing of the Declaration of Independence "July, 1776"; and the British surrender at Yorktown "Octr. 19, 1781." On the right, are vignette scenes of the Civil War depicting the bombardment of Fort Sumter "April 14th, 1861"; an encounter between an ironclad and two wooden ships ("Progress"), and Lincoln's triumphant arrival via coach with an African American driver in Richmond "6th April 1861." Latter vignette also includes an African American man cheering in the crowd. Vinery details frame the vignettes. Columbia's right foot rests on the British lion, and an American eagle emerges from behind her other leg. On the ground, near her feet, rest cannons, cannon balls, and broken shackles., Title from item., Name of publisher and date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in year of 1865 by Henry & Wm. Voight [illegible] D[istrict of] N[ew York]., Reproduced and described in The Lincoln image, p. 194-195, 197., Gift of Gordon Wright Colket, 1970., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Lang, Manson, artist
Date: 1865
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons 1865-9 [7879.F]

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: The last offer of reconciliation In rememberance of Prest. A. Lincolns. "The door is open for all."
Description: Allegorical print with decorative border commemorating the reconciliation of the North and South at the end of the Civil War. Depicts Lincoln extending a hand to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and to Liberty, depicted as a white woman, who sits behind the presidents in a temple adorned with the names of the Union states. Secretary of State William H. Seward, Secretary of War Gideon Welles, two Union Officers, General Sherman, and General Grant on horseback accompany Lincoln in the prosperous North. Grant holds a ribbon containing the names of the Confederate states, and Sherman attaches it to the Temple of Liberty. In the burning, war-torn South where ghostlike figures roam, Davis is accompanied by General Lee, a man resembling Henry Wilkes Boothe, an enslaved African American man who holds his shackled arms above his head, and a solemn young man holding his stove pipe hat. The decorative border contains healthy vines and branches on the northern side, dead vines on the side of the "South," and vignettes of an enslaved African American man being whipped by a white man enslaver, hand-to-hand combat, white men working the field, and a white man fishing., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year of 1865 by Henry & Wm. Voight in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York., Text below title: Dedicated to the Memory of our most lamented late President Abraham Lincoln., One of three companionate allegorical lithographs about the Civil War produced by Kimmel & Forster., Originally from a McAllister scrapbook of Lincoln materials. 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: Thomas, Henry, lithographer
Date: 1865
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political cartoons-1865-6R [5792.F]

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