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Title: How free ballot is protected!
Description: Racist cartoon accusing the Republican party of electoral fraud and obstructionism in the presidential election of 1864. Depicts a ballot office where an armed African American man, portrayed in racist caricature and attired in torn and worn clothing, prevents a disabled white Union soldier from voting for McClellan. In the left, the African American man holds a bayoneted rifle and says in the vernacular, "Hallo dar! You can't put in dat you copperhead traitor, nor any oder 'cept for Massa Lincoln!! [A copperhead refers to a Democrat who wanted peace with the South]. In the right, the Union veteran, attired in uniform, wears an eye patch and has an amputated left arm with an artificial limb and an amputated right leg. He leans on a crutch and holds a ballot reading "McClellan" in his right hand. He replies, "I am an American citizen and did not think I had fought and bled for this, alas my country!" In the background, election workers comment about the potential trouble and the need to ignore the situation., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Possible place of publication supplied by Reilly., RVCDC, Purchase 1960., 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., Baker was a New England etcher and lithographer who drew many Civil War caricatures.
Creator: Baker, Joseph E., approximately 1837-1914, artist
Date: [1864]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1864-35R [6395.F]

Title: "I say Billy, do you know why I'm doing this? Cause, I'm going to run for Congress soon!"
Description: Satire belittling the increasing rights of African Americans following the Emancipation Proclamation and depicting a white shoe shine boy shining the shoes of an African American man, portrayed as a racist caricature of a Black dandy. On the street corner, the white boy shines the shoes of the African American man, attired in a top hat with a decorative band, a white collared shirt, a black bowtie, a plaid waistcoat, a checked jacket, striped pants, and black shoes. The shoe shiner speaks to another white boy, who is barefoot and attired in torn and worn clothes, "I say Billy, do you know why I'm doing this? Cause, I'm going to run for Congress soon!" In the left, a carriage passes by., Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 1972, p. 63., Purchase 1972., 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: Potomac, artist
Date: [1863?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1863-13W [8033.F.3]

Title: I take it on my responsibility
Description: Cartoon critical of Andrew Jackson's decision to discontinue federal deposits to the Bank of the United States and his denial that his informal circle of close advisors, known as the "Kitchen Cabinet," influenced his decision. Depicts Jackson pinned to a column at the top of the stairs of the bank as he and other white men are being drenched by white men wielding fire hoses, one labeled "United States," in the street. Near Jackson, a kettle boils, fueled by burning papers labeled "Constitution" and "Globe," the pro-Jackson newspaper. Behind him several men, one labeled "K.C.," are involved in altercations. Other men run down the steps, one colliding with an African American man carrying barrels. In the street, a rotund white man, attired in a military uniform, observes the soaking of Jackson with delight while two other white men appear to be coming to Jackson's aid., Title from item., Date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1834]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1834-12W [5760.F.57]

Title: [I] take the responsibility
Description: Satire concerning Andrew Jackson's role in the controversy over the discontinuation of federal deposits to the Bank of the United States. Jackson, portrayed as a jack-ass, is led by Van Buren, believed to be the force behind the discontinuation. He pulls a refuse cart labeled "K.C." (i.e., Kitchen Cabinet) which symbolizes the U.S. government. The cart is steered by a figure made of kitchen implements. A barefoot African American man, portrayed as a racist caricature and attired in a shirt with the sleeves rolled up and pants, pours a bucket of waste from a public privy labeled "Public Accommodations. Place of Deposit" into the cart. There is a white man sitting inside the "Public Accommodations" building and large rats run on the roof., Title from item., Pictograph of an eye is used in place of "I" in title., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1834 by Endicott & Swett in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the southern District of New York., Inscribed: No. 1., Hassan Straightshanks is possibly a pseudonym for David Claypoole Johnston., 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.
Date: 1834
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons -1834-12 [6194.F]

Title: I'm not to blame for being white, sir!
Description: Critical satire portraying the humanitarian sympathies of Massachusetts senator and abolitionist Charles Sumner as hypocritical toward whites. Depicts a well-dressed Sumner walking down a city street. He has stopped to hand coins to a barefoot, African American child carrying a basket. A white girl, attired in torn and worn clothes, carries sticks and holds out her hand to him, as well. Behind Sumner, two young white women witness the scene., Title from item., Publication information supplied by Weitenkampf., Probably drawn by Dominique C. Fabronius., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1972, p. 63., Purchase 1972., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1862]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1862-11 [8033.F.2]

Title: Immediate emancipation illustrated
Description: Critical satire of the American Anti-Slavery Society, which was founded on the principle of immediate abolition by Arthur Tappan and William Lloyd Garrison, who are depicted discussing the society's principles with an unnamed abolitionist, possibly Lewis Tappan. Above their heads is the banner "Anti Slavery Society Founded Anno Domini MDCCCXXXIII." The seated Garrison comments on the origin of the bundle of Italian linen at his feet, which is to be used for his newspaper "the Emancipator." In the right, the figure of a leopard rests upon a pedestal marked "Fanaticism. Brought the Inquisition upon Spain. Beggary upon Italy. And may drench America in blood!!" (an allusion to the idiom a leopard cannot change its spots and to the Spain and the Iberian War, 1807-1814). In the left, a Black man, labeled "Emancipated Slave," is portrayed in racist caricature and is naked except for a leaves wrapped around his waist. He chases an insect calling, "Food," while carrying a knife. In the background, a scene labeled "Insurection (sic) in St. Domingo! Cruelty, Lust, and blood!" depicts Black people using swords and axes to kill white people, including a white woman on the ground. A building burns behind them., Title from item., Date supplied by Weitenkampf., Probably the "A Caricature" cited in the Emancipator (New York, N.Y.), October 19, 1833 and Liberator (Boston, Mass.), November 2, 1833., The "Emancipated Slave" figure is similar to the figure depicted in the lithograph by Alfred Ducôte, "An Emancipated Negro" ([London]: Thomas McLean, 1833). Copies in the collections of National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London., Purchase 1986., 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: [1833]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1833 - 27W [P.9140]

Title: "The irrepressible conflict" or the Republican barge in danger
Description: Cartoon predicting doom for the Republican Party whose moderate antislavery factions intentionally caused radical abolitionist William Seward to lose the presidential nomination at the National Convention in 1860. Depicts the "Republican Barge" with Lincoln at the helm being tossed on rough sea near a rocky shore. Within the boat Horace Greeley, Missouri Congressman Edward Bates, and Globe editor Francis Blair disparage Seward and the "Irrepressible Conflict" (a catchphrase from an 1858 Seward speech referring to the conflict within the Union over slavery) he has caused as they throw him overboard. The hoisted Seward warns that he alone can save the boat. An African American man, portrayed as a racist caricature and attired in a white collared shirt, a bowtie, a striped waistcoat, pants, and a "Discords Patent Life Preserver" wrapped around his chest, says in the vernacular, “if de boat and all hands sink, dis Nigger sure to swim, Yah! Yah!” Additional passengers, including Massachusetts Governor Nathaniel Banks and "Courier" editor James Webb, comment on the breakers ahead and the improbability of being saved. Brother Jonathan (predecessor to Uncle Sam) anxiously stands on the shore admonishing them not to throw out Seward but to “heave that tarnal Nigger out.”, Probably drawn by Louis Maurer., Verso stamped: L.A. De Vries., 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 1960., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Currier & Ives
Date: 1860
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1860 - 28 [6418.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: 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: 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: 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: John Bull makes a discovery
Description: Racist cartoon reflecting the Northern fear that Britain's economic ties with Southern cotton growers would cause the British government to relinquish its abolitionist stance in order to support the Confederacy. Depicts a plump John Bull, representing Great Britain, centered between a kneeling enslaved African American man and a bale of cotton in a storage shed. Bull touches the hair of the African American man with his right hand and holds a piece of the cotton from the bale in the other. He declares, "it is certain that Cotton is more useful to me than Wool!!" In the left background, two African American men stand and cry. In the right background, a Southern white man plantation owner looks on and smiles., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Possible publisher supplied by Murrell., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Currier & Ives
Date: [1861]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1861-40R [5780.Fa]

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: 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]

Title: Lecompton funeral
Description: Cartoon satirizing Colonel Thomas B. Florence, the only successful Philadelphia Democrat in the Congressional race of 1858 despite his support of the recently defeated pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution advocated by President Buchanan ("Prince James"). Depicts Florence, with the head of a donkey, leading a funeral procession for the "dead" constitution. The procession is composed of: white men shipworkers of the "Two Sloops," which rescued Florence from the "wreck of Lecompton" (an allusion to the decisive electoral support provided by the Philadelphia Navy Yard workers actively supported by Florence's committee work); four, white men pallbearers carrying the "remains of Lecompton" in a coffin resembling an outhouse and inscribed with the names of the unsuccessful Democratic Congressional nominees, "Phillips," "Landy," "Jones" ; and two semi-human figures bearing the flag "discharged ship carpenters.", Title from item., Publication date supplied by manuscript note in Poulson's Scrapbook, Vol. 1, p. 29., Text printed on recto: Democratic committee bearing the remains of Lecompton to Prince James, marshaled by the only remaining representative, Col. T.B. Florence, who was rescued from the wreck by the untiring exertions of the workmen upon the TWO SLOOPS., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Pennsylvania views and political miscellany. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., 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: [October 1858]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1858-2W [5759.F]

Title: Liberty, the fair maid of Kansas-in the hands of the "Border Ruffians."
Description: Cartoon addressing the Democratic administration's responsibility for the violence in Kansas following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Depicts Democratic leaders as violent, proslavery invaders known as "Border Ruffians." In the center, a drunken President Franklin Pierce, armed with a tomahawk, knife, pistol, and rifle, hovers over "Liberty," depicted as a white woman, and tramples the American flag draped on her shoulders. Senator Lewis Cass, armed with a tomahawk, sword, knife, and rifle, looks at Liberty with his tongue sticking out. Liberty stretches her arms out and exclaims, “O Spare Me Gentlemen, Spare Me!!” They assure her that she will not be harmed. In the right, Senator Stephen Douglas scalps a dead, white man farmer, who carries a scythe in his left hand. In the left, Secretary of State William Marcy, attired in a “fifty-cent" trouser patch (a joke used by his political enemies referring to his use of state funds to repair his pants when he served as an associate justice for the Supreme Court of New York,) empty the pockets of a slain, white man settler. Presidential candidate James Buchanan, stating "Might makes right," steals the dead man’s watch. In the left background, a white woman settler, made insane by the violence, mistakes a border ruffian for her husband as they mock her, "Ho! ho! She thinks I'm her husband, we Scalped the Cus and she like a D--m fool went Crazy on it, and now she wants me to go to heaven with her, ha! ha! ha!" In the distance are additional scenes of violence and murder., Title from item., Artist and publication information supplied by Reilly., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Magee was a New York cartoonist and lithographer who eventually established his own lithographic firm in Philadelphia in 1850.
Creator: Magee, John L., artist
Date: [1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1856-9 [5760.F.90]

Title: The little giant - in the character of the gladiator
Description: Cartoon portraying Stephen Douglas as a gladiator to symbolize his split with the Buchanan Administration on the admission of Kansas to the Union as an enslaving state. Depicts Douglas, attired in a tunic, armor, and sandals, defiantly holding his shield of "Popular Sovereignty, The Majority Rule" and sword labeled "Freedom of the Elective Franchise" in the center of a battle arena. He prepares to use his armament to fight against the admission of Kansas under the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution, which was fraudulently ratified because of the barring and abstention of free-state voters. To the left of Douglas, President Buchanan, attired as a gladiator, fends off Robert J. Walker, the Kansas Territory Governor and an advocate of popular sovereignty. In the right, a gladiator representing the power of the "Free Press" trounces the gladiator representing the "Washington Union," the Administration's organ. On the ground lies the Roman standard with an eagle, which reads “S.P.Q.R. Salaries Paid Quite Regular.” The arena is filled with white men and women spectators with various facial expressions of cheer, anger, and shock., Title from item., Publication date supplied by Weitenkampf., Manuscript note written on recto: Douglas-Lecompton question., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1858]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1858-1w [6268.F]

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: [Manufacturing cigars for the poodles. A sketch from the Havannah.]
Description: Print depicting West Indian Black men cigarmakers, portrayed in racist caricature, and their English customers criticizing the use of tobacco and the corrupt nature of enslaved labor. The cigarmakers, attired in sarongs or loinclothes and some with caps, speak in the vernacular, "You mak'a nice ting for Massa Poodle to suck." They soak tobacco, which is dripping wet and giving off a stench, in a large barrel labeled "hospital tub," and in their own urine and vomit to produce "high flavored" cigars. In the left, a Black man vomits into a basin filled with tobacco leaves and says, "What a tink! de smell mak'a me sick." In the right, a man squats and urinates into another basin filled with tobacco. Horrified British dandies look on while one comments, "Oh the Negers, is that the way they make the high flavored cigars, I'll never Suck another.", Title from duplicate copies at the William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan and The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut., Purchase 1991., 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: October 5, 1827
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1827 [P.9345]

Title: The meeting of the Friends. City Hall Park
Description: Cartoon portraying a distorted version of events surrounding New York Governor Horatio Seymour's "My Friend's" speech during the Draft Riots of 1863 when several African Americans were killed by working-class rioters. Portrays Seymour on the steps of City Hall in front of a riotous mob composed primarily of armed Irish-Americans who march past the building for "The Tribune," an anti-Seymour newspaper. Supporting Seymour from behind are a fool with a cap inscribed "Express" (i.e., a Pro-Seymour newspaper), and former Mayor Fernando Wood and Tammany boss Peter B. Sweeny, both "Copperhead" Democrats who advocated peaceful settlement with the South and who believed Republican philanthropy favored African Americans at the expense of working-class whites. Seymour placates the mob announcing that he is their friend and that he has ordered the President to stop the draft. At his feet is an African American with a noose around his neck. A white man holds the severed head of an African American man, and several more African Americans are seen hanging from trees in the background., Probably drawn by Henry L. Stephens., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Place of publication supplied by Reilly., Text printed below image: A friendly voice.—Governor, we want you to stay here. Horatio Seymour.—I am going to stay here, “My Friends.” Second Rioter.—Faith, and the Governor will stay by us. Horatio Seymour.—I am your “Friend,” and the “Friend” of your families. Third Rioter.—Arrah, Jemmy, and who said he cared about the “Dirty Nagurs”? Fourth Rioter.—How about the draft, Saymere? Governor.—I have ordered the President to stop the draft! Chorus.—Be Jabers, he’s a “Broth of a Boy.”, 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: [1863]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1863-12 [P.2275.11]

Title: [ Montage of caricatures satirizing Southern Democrats]
Description: Includes six captioned vignettes critically satirizing Southern democrats, copperheads, Jefferson Davis, and Andrew Johnson. Shows Democrats represented as an overseer forcing "Black Republicans" depicted as fleeing enslaved African American men, women, and children to vote their "Ticket in the South"; white men soldiers loading a cannon representing "General Grant giving the Rebel Copperhead Democrats some more grape"; Jefferson Davis fleeing in his "wife's petticoats"; "Johnson on a "Bender," after the Impeachment Trials; a skull and cross bones to symbolize that "Copperheads and Rebel Democrats are Poison"; and Johnson attired in torn and worn clothes and carrying a sack on his back as he is "Travelling for Tennessee." Several of caricatures also used as Civil War envelope designs., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from content., Created postfreeze., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Civil War miscellanies. 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [ca. 1868]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons [ca. 1868] - Mon [(2)5786.F.176a]

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: 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: A new song suitable to the season, to the tune of good English beer
Description: A cartoon supporting the Old Ticket Party of Pennsylvania which advocated a conversion from a proprietary government to a royal colony. Depicts well-to-do Philadelphians in a tavern drinking and singing "Huzza Old ticket, Old Ticket Forever." An African American server serves the men as he states in patois his support of the Old Ticket. As the devil exits the tavern, he indicates his support for the New Ticket Party which supported the existing proprietary government. Contains an electioneering song of six verses from which the depicted Philadelphians sing verses. The tavern was often used as a place to canvass election support and treat voters., Place and date of publication supplied by Evans., Possibly the work of Henry Dawkins., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [1765]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons -[1765] - New [959.F.87a]

Title: A new way of passing a bad Nebraska bill
Description: Antislavery cartoon criticizing the abuse of political power by President Franklin Pierce, his cabinet, and Stephen Douglas in their attempt to force the ratification of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854. Depicts antislavery Senator Thomas Hart Benton, holding the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which prohibited the extension of slavery into the Western Territories, arguing against slavery in Nebraska. Pierce, who holds the Nebraska Bill, threatens that any political opposition to the bill shall be severely punished. Douglas, with the President's cabinet, sits at a table behind Pierce and observes that acquiescence to "Southern Institutions" will get him the Presidency next term. Members of the cabinet comment upon Nebraska's suitability for slavery. A white man enslaver reviewing a paper labeled "Auction: sale of slaves" comments that if a man cannot make enough money by "selling young Niggers" than he must be greedy., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Sinclair was a Philadelphia lithographer who received awards from the Franklin Institute for his work.
Creator: Sinclair, Thomas S., approximately 1805-1881, lithographer
Date: [1854]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1854 - New [5760.F.86]

Title: The nigger emperor of Nicuragua [sic] on his throne Attended by Chatfield & his Black guards witnessing the detention of the steamer Prometheus, by the English brig of war Express, at San Juan
Description: Racist political cartoon satirizing the fictitious "Nigger Emperor" of Nicaragua during the "Prometheus-Express" incident of November 1851, which threatened the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 between the United States and Britain to abstain from attempting dominion of Central America. Depicts the Emperor as a Black man, partially undressed, attired in a military uniform with epaulettes, a black plumed hat, a sword on his waistband, and black boots. He sits atop a barrel labeled “Jamaica Rum.” He has one boot off that exposes his sock. His trousers are off and draped over his right arm. He smiles with a cigar in his mouth and carries a bottle labeled “Brandy” in his left hand. He looks towards Frederick Chatfield, the United Kingdom’s consul in Central America from 1834 to 1852, standing in the right. Chatfield holds his hands up and says, “They shall pay the money or be blow to attoms for their temerity, let me again entreat your Majesty to condesend (sic) to draw your breeches over your imperial shins.” The Emperor gestures with his right hand to the two ships in the harbor and replies in the vernacular, “Nebber mine, Massa Chatfield, wedder to warm for wear beechum, Yankee hab to cum back and pay money to dis nigger, ya, ya, ya.” Behind the Emperor, several Black guards, attired in tall hats, smile and stand in formation. Also in the print is a small black dog sniffing the Emperor’s sock., The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 made Greytown, Nicaragua a free port, denying the British revenue. To circumvent this, the British charged harbor fees. On November 21, 1851, Cornelius Vanderbilt’s ship Prometheus refused to pay the British harbor fees. The British brig o’war Express fired three shots across the bow of the Prometheus. Vanderbilt then paid. However, when the ship arrived in New York he took his case to the U.S. government with the U.S. wanting Britain to withdraw from Central America. In early 1852, the Nicaraguan government sought to assert its authority over the Miskito kingdom. On April 30, 1852, Secretary of State Daniel Webster and British minister John Crampton negotiated a settlement that made Greytown a free city, protected the rights of the Miskito Indians, and established the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua along the San Juan River., Title from item., Erroneously dated 1839 by Weitenkampf., Appears in The old soldier, New York, February, 1852., Likely drawn by John L. Magee, who worked at 69 Nassau Street at this time., 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.
Creator: Magee, John L., artist
Date: [1852]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1851-28 [5760.F.107]

Title: "The Nigger" in the woodpile
Description: Racist political cartoon satirizing the Republican Party platform during the 1860 presidential election. In the right, shows Abraham Lincoln saying, “Little did I think when I split these rails, that they would be the means of elevating me to my present position" as he sits on top of a woodpile labeled, “Republican Platform.” An enslaved African American man, portrayed as a racist caricature with exaggerated features, sits within the intertwined rails of the platform. In the left, New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley is confronted by "Young America," depicted as a white man, who represents the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Greeley reassures him, "...you can safely vote our ticket, for we have no connection with the Abolitionist party, but our Platform is composed entirely of rails split by our candidate." "Young America" protests "It's no use old fellow! You can't pull that wool over my eyes, for I can see 'the Nigger' peeping through the rails," and he points his finger to the African American man in the woodpile., Title from item., Date from the 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., Library Company, Annual report, 1967, p. 53., Accessioned 1999., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Currier & Ives
Date: 1860
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1860-30R [P.9677]

Title: "No higher law."
Description: Antislavery print denouncing the immorality of the Fugitive Slave Law by exploiting abolitionist Senator William H. Seward's famous quote that "a higher law" than the Constitution should exist regarding slavery. Shows "King Slavery," depicted as a bearded, bare-chested, white man, attired in a crown made of finger bones and armed with pistols in his waistband. The King sits and leans upon the arm of his throne composed of the "Fugitive Slave Bill," the Bible, and human skulls as he defiantly holds a whip of chains above his head. An American flag on a pole billows behind the throne. Below the throne, Seward, depicted as a priest, looks up and raises his left hand toward the King. He stands before a cat-faced altar inscribed "Sacred to Slavery," which rests upon a book of "Law" and pours oil from a container onto the altar fire, generating clouds of smoke. In the right, three enslaved men squat with their heads bowed. Senator Daniel Webster gestures toward them and holds a paper supporting the Fugitive Slave Bill "to the fullest extent." Near them, "Freedom," depicted as a bearded, white man and attired in a robe, displays his sense of defeat by removing his crown and lowering his liberty pole. In the left, an African American man freedom seeker fends off dogs attacking him. An African American woman freedom seeker and two children flee from two white men mercenaries on horseback and run toward a white woman with outstretched arms in front of a house. In the right background, the figure of Liberty falls from her pedestal., Title from item., Place of publication inferred from the residence of the distributor., Weitenkampf suggests date of publication as 1851., Text printed on recto: Price $3 A Hundred And Six Cents Single Copy., William Harned was an abolitionist printer in New York who also published the pamphlet, "The Fugitive Slave Bill:...." in 1850. (LCP Am 1850 Fug 16809.D.1)., A.B. Maurice and F.T. Cooper's The History of the 19th century in caricature (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1904), p. 156., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2000, p. 40-2., Purchase 1999., 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: [1851]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1851 - 2W [P.9739]

Title: Northern coat of arms
Description: Racist cartoon expressing anti-abolitionist sentiment within the North by depicting a "Northern Coat of Arms," in which only the rights of African Americans are represented. Depicts a Phrygian cap from which an African American man's large feet protrude. The cap, inscribed "Liberty," is adorned with the American symbols of stars and the eagle with an arrow and olive branches., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1864 by j.E. Cutler in the clerk's office of the district court of the dist. of Mass., Series no. printed on recto: 159., Probably drawn by Joseph E. Baker, Boston., 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.
Date: 1864
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1864-36R [P.2275.4]

Title: Not a drum was heard nor a funeral note as his corpse to the ramparts we hurried -- : Not a loco discharged his farewell shot o'er the ditch where our hero we buried
Description: Cartoon of a funeral procession portraying the erosion of Democratic support for presidential hopeful Martin Van Buren, the "Kinderhook Fox," during the election of 1844. Depicts President Tyler, instrumental in Van Buren's defeat, stating, "Thus do all our hopes end in Clay," as he steers a funeral cart carrying Van Buren, depicted as a dead fox; his son, poet Robert Tyler; and a bale of cabbages. The cart is pulled by Andrew Jackson, depicted as an old nag boasting about his part in Van Buren's death. Following the cart are the devil sobbing and bemoaning that he is Van Buren's only friend and a rotund man in a wide brimmed hat who rings a bell and calls, "Bring out your dead." In the right, two barefooted African American men gravediggers, portrayed in racism caricature and attired in torn and worn clothes, hold shovels as they stand over and comment about the open grave they have dug for Van Buren. "Here comes Pompey, we'll have this Fox earthed at last." A small cabin, with an emaciated white man in the doorway, and labeled "Loco Foco Hall" (Loco Focos were a radical branch of the Democrats who supported Van Buren) stands in the background., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1844 by James Baille in the Clerk's office of the Dist Court of the Southern District of N. York., Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1977., 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., Bucholzer was a New York cartoonist whose work was published by James Baillie from 1843 until 1847.
Creator: Bucholzer, H., lithographer
Date: 1844
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political cartoons - 1844-17 [8366.F.21]

Title: Not very like a whale but very like a fish. Seventh Ward promenades
Description: Cartoon depicting the riots caused by the corrupt electioneering tactics and voter coercion during the first general mayoral election in New York City in 1834. In the right, the mob of people shout "Hurrah for Lawrence" ie. Cornelius Lawrence, the Tammany candidate and winner of the election. The crowd, including African American men depicted in racist caricature, carry pieces of wood as they chase the white man attired in a nightshirt and cap, probably New York merchant and 7th Ward Bank investor, Preserved Fish. A dog also runs after him. "Preserved Fish" runs past a building with a banner, "Hurrah for Gulian C. Verplanck," the Whig candidate who contended that he was defrauded of the office. The corrupt 7th Ward Bank funneled money to Tammany officers and supporters. In the left background, another crowd of men is visible., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1834]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1834 - 15W [5760.F.86x]

Title: Oh! Massa Jeff. dis sesesh fever will kill de nigger
Description: Cartoon depicting the ill effect of secession on enslaved people. In the dwelling of the enslaved African American men, Jefferson Davis, attired in a broad-brim hat and with the Union flag hanging from his pocket, checks the pulse of an emaciated, bedridden African American man with "Bond Plasters" on his chest. An angst-ridden enslaved African American man stands behind the bed and weeps as he holds a bottle of medicine. On the wall behind him are three posters advertising various medicines: "Dr. Jeffy's Celebrated Bond Plasters ...," "The Great Southern Remedies," "Dr. Jeffy's Celebrated Lettres du Marque A Radical Remedy for all Constitutional Afflictions.", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1861 in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the Southern District of Ohio., Purchase 1961., 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: 1861
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1861-22W [6449.F]

Title: The past and the future
Description: Emancipation print contrasting African American life during and after slavery. Central scene portrays the interior of a free person's home where several generations of the family socialize around a "Union" stove as the mother cooks. The horrors of slavery are depicted through scenes of the flogging, branding, selling, and capturing of enslaved people. The forthcoming results of freedom are depicted through scenes of the exterior of a free person's cottage, African American children attending public school, and African Americans receiving payment for their work. Also depicted are: a baby angel freeing the shackles of a kneeling enslaved man as the angel is held under the year 1863 by Father Time; Thomas Crawford's statue of freedom; and the hellhound Cerberus fleeing liberty. The Great Central or Sanitary Fair of 1864 was organized by the Philadelphia division of the United States Sanitary Commission to raise money for their soldier relief organization. Although emancipation was a popular theme of the fair, African Americans were excluded from the exhibition., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Inscribed: Price [Fif?]ty Cents., Originally published in "Harper's weekly," January 24, 1863., LCP exhibition catalogue: African American Miscellany, p. 22., Accessioned 1987., 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: Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902, artist
Date: [1864]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1865-3a variant [P.9177.30]

Title: Pay day at the custom house, N.Y
Description: Cartoon depicting a crowd surrounding the New York City custom house where many upper class men scuffle or flee from tradespeople and shopkeepers demanding payment for bills owed. In the left, a white woman grabs a white man by the coat tails and exclaims, "Stop, you wagabone, & pay your washing-bill, you sarpint!" A rotund white man holds a bill and replies, "Hold on, good woman--Hold on til I get there. He owes me for his Grog score." In the center, a white man local official, attired in fine clothing and a top hat, is surrounded by creditors forming a long line holding bills and demanding payment, including for "five oyster suppers" and his "tailors-bill." A barefoot African American shoeshiner, portrayed in racist caricature and attired in torn and worn clothes asks in the vernacular, "Massa will you pay for brack de boots?" The official responds, "You black rascal, have you the impudence to present a bill to a man who has been chosen to office by the sober second thought of the people?" In the background, creditors chase the custom officials with their bills., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1847 by J. Baillie in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of N. York., Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1977., 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., Magee was a New York cartoonist and lithographer who eventually established his own lithographic firm in Philadelphia in 1850.
Creator: Magee, John L., artist
Date: 1847
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1847 - Pay [8366.F.26]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Title: 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]

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