Print of Franklin's anti-Stamp Act cartoon, originally issued on card stock and distributed to members of Parliament prior to debate on the repeal, depicting a dismembered Britannia to represent the alienation of the American colonies as a consequence of non-repeal. Shows Britannia, fallen of and resting against the globe of the world, her limbs inscribed with the names of the colonies strewn around her, her shield fallen beside her, and her lance, speared through her "New England" leg, pointed at her chest (allusion to the New England riots). She sits upon a barren land, near a withered English oak, a dropped olive branch, and British ships marked for sale by brooms attached to their masts. A sash inscribed in Latin, "Penny for Bellisario" (Roman military hero of Emperor Justinian accused of treason and reduced to beggary), lies across her chest., Manuscript note by DuSimitiere on recto: North America November the first MDCCLXV. The original print done in England on the back of a message card, the invention and for the use of Benjamin Franklin Esq.; LL.D. agent for the Province of Pennsylvania, in London., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Described in Edwin Wolf and Marie Elena Korey, eds. Quarter of a Millennium... (Philadelphia, The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1981), entry 40., See Edwin Wolf's "Benjamin Franklin's Stamp Act Cartoon" Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 99 (1955), p. 388-396.
Creator
Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790, artist
Date
[ca. 1766]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - [1766] Mag [395.F.5]
Cartoon critical of Great Britain's lack of support of the Union depicting the country as a greedy, pompous, and disingenuous child. Depicts a smiling, well-dressed, plump lad partaking of a lavish table of food in front of an emaciated, begging dog on an outside patio near the ocean. In the background, an American ship sails near the shore and displays a banner labeled, "Coal?" On the shore, near a row of cannons and a pile of coal, soldiers display a British flag labeled "No!", Date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf., Publisher's imprint stamped below title., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War.
Date
[between 1862 and 1864]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1862-30W [6392.F]