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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: Old Nick in Wall Street
Description: Cartoon mocking Nicholas Biddle, president of the controversial Bank of the U.S., as a corrupt emperor of finance served by New York's financial district. Depicts a self-effacing Biddle on the steps of a bank delivering a speech to a large crowd of his obsequious cheering subjects comprised of bankers and brokers. Two men, possibly New York editors accused of accepting bribes in return for publishing pro-Bank articles, Charles King and/or Mordecai Manual Noah and/or James W. Webb, hoist him on their knees. Biddle declares that he will bear the burden of the attacks of the Bank opponents as those before him will acquit him of scandal. In the far left background, a group of men describe Biddle as a monster and allude to his dubious relationship with New York merchant Silas E. Burrows, who was accused of bribing Noah and Webb. Contains a fabricated verse below the image from the popular poem "The Devil's Walk," commonly misattributed to Robert Porson (as in the cartoon) about the faithless servility of Satan's subjects., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited.
Date: [1832?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1832-18W [5760.F.50]

Title: Banks & bribery, v.s. balls & bumbs scene 1st Or the destruction of aristocracy monopoly and oppression
Description: Cartoon concerning President Jackson's destruction of the Bank of the United States, including his veto of the Bank's recharter and the removal of its federal deposits. Depicts Jackson, "Jack Downing," and others attacking the Bank with axes, "veto mortar," and cannon balls. Jackson and "Downing" hollar about "smashing down" "Monopoly & Oppression" as well as the absence of a "nest of varmants" when the house was originally built. Members of Bank investigative "committees" flee the building, while others are crushed under the bank, its "deposit pillar" destroyed. Spectators, including evil sprites, run a press, clamor for tossed money bags labelled with alleged bribery amounts, and scream "This is a fair business transaction." Also includes sheets of paper scattered on the ground inscribed with allusions to the Bank War, including"Deranged Currency" and "Petitions.", Manuscript note on verso: From his Aunt Isabella 1840., Previous owner, probably C.P. Lukens. See Congressional Elephant political cartoons - 1832 - 2 (5760.f.42)., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, editions.
Date: [1834?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1834-4W [5760.F.58]

Title: Bank-ometer Truths for the producers of wealth the banking system unmasked or the true causes of pressure panic and distress
Description: Cartoon designed by radical labor activist Seth Luther to promote the dissolution of the United States banking system. Depicts the U.S Bank as operated by the industrial turbine "Currency Reservoir." The "Bank of England Tube," "State Bank Tube," and "Expansion and Contraction Tube" extend from the reservoir and power meters labeled "Paperometer," "Stockometer," Flourometer," and "Wageometer," which flank the bank and measure the system. Meters measure the benefits to industry and the disadvantages to the artisan of the banking system from 1816 to 1840, including: the expansion and contraction of paper money; the prices and amounts of import and export commodities; the economic effects from the monetary fluctuations on manufacturers and mechanics; the price of stocks and flour; and the wages (lower in 1840 than 1816) and cost of living of New York carpenters. Also contains seventeen boxed quotations from prominent political figures criticizing paper money and banks, including statements by Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Samuel Young, John Tyler, and Bank of the United States supporter Henry Clay; a chart containing figures indicating an increase in the number of banks from 1774 to 1840, the amount of hard and paper currency in circulation, and the "aggregate receipts" from public land sales; as well as references to Jackson's 1832 veto of the Bank of the United States and Van Buren's 1840 Independent Treasury Bill. Dedicated to Andrew Jackson for his "righteous" veto of the Bank of the United States on July 4, 1840., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress July 22, 1840 Seth Luther Author and Proprietor in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the So. District of N.Y., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Library Company Annual Report, 2001, p. 30., Advertised in Public Ledger, October 8, 1840. Price listed as 25 cents.
Creator: Lawton, Stephen, lithographer
Date: designed Nov. 1833, drawn 1840, cJuly 22, 1840
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *political cartoons - 1840-Ban [5760.F.84]

Title: Political quixotism. Shewing the consequences of sleeping in patent magic spectacles The diplomatic hercules, attacking the political hydra
Description: Anti-Jackson cartoon alleging that irrational motives influenced the President's decision to destroy the Bank of the United States. Depicts a terrified Jackson, in his bedroom, fighting the hydra, "U.S. Bank," during a nightmare. References to the corruption of the Bank are inscribed on the creature's many heads, including "deposits," "pension," and "bribery." Jackson, sword in hand, screams "Stamp the horrid Monster!!! Crush it!!! Nick Biddle!!! Hell & the Devil!!! Bribery & Corruption!!! Assasination [sic]!! Fire!! Murder. Murder!! Where are you Major?" Jackson is being restrained by "Major" Jack Downing, who pulls on his suspenders and implores him to return to bed, "Cum along to Bed agin, Jineral, I tell you Biddle aint here, nor the devil nother as I no on." In the right background is a bed and a chair with a candle on it., Zek Downing was a pseudonym used by various artists on several cartoons, predominately published by Ezra Bisbee, which satirized the Bank War., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited.
Date: [1833]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1833-12 [5760.F.76]

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: A confederacy against the Constitution and the rights of the people with an historical view of the component parts of this diabolical transaction
Description: Cartoon during the Bank War satirizing the Whig Party as greedy, anti-democratic, pro-Bank, pro-business infidels who worship in the Temple of Mammon to the false god of riches. Atop the temple, a white man, holding a flag inscribed "No Veto! The Bank! Down with Democracy!" kneels on a pedestal inscribed "Bank Candidate. War, Pestilence, and Famine." Within the temple sit symbolic and political figures including: the Devil representing the "Hartford Convention" of 1815, which debated Northern secession; the "High Church" as a clergyman pleading for donations to preach; the "High Priest" Henry Clay with his "U.S. Bank Book" sitting on his throne the "Chair of State"; the "High Chancellor," Bank of the United States president, Nicholas Biddle pouring out a bag of money to buy newspaper editors; a Northerner ("High Tarrif") discussing slavery, "You Southern Barons have black slaves will you not allow us to make white slaves of our poor population in our Manufacturing Baronies"; and southern pro-nullification senator John C. Calhoun ("No Tariff"), who bemoans his association with Whigs in his personal campaign against political rival Martin Van Buren. In the foreground, worshipers, including monkeys, pray and are chained near a printing press, pro-Bank newspapers, and flags and banners. The flags and banners denigrate "Jefferson," "democracy," and "equal rights" and support "high tariffs," the "merchant class," the "Bank of the United States," and "white slavery.", Title from item., Artist's initial lower left corner: H., Probably published by labor radical Seth Luther., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Lib. Company. Annual report, 2001, p. 27, 30., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1833?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1833-20 [5760.F.43]

Title: Old Nick's new patent plan to make Nova Scotia tories, federals coodies, Hartford conventioners, nullifiers, national republican bankites &c
Description: Cartoon issued during the Bank War attacking Nicholas Biddle, president of the Bank of the United States, and his allegedly bribed New York newspaper editors for propagating an artificial financial crisis to sway public opinion in favor of the Bank. Depicts editors James W. Webb, Mordecai Manuel Noah, and probably Charles King using large screw presses to crush masses of working men ("workies"), including sailors, laborers, and butchers. Noah, fearing the strength of the "workies," loses control of his press from the shifting weight of his men; King twists his press and talks of the "division of the spoils"; and Webb urges a "good screwing" to gain the workers's suport and Biddle's fees. From below, the "workies" criticize the Bank as an institution of the aristocracy; allude favorably to Jackson and his veto of the Bank's recharter; scream their refusal to bow to a "golden calf"; and exclaim that they vote for liberty, not their "merchants breeches pockets." To the far right, Biddle hollers support to his "cousins"; "Jack Downing" questions the success of the presses; and a man with a monocle declares that the "workies" will not vote in the next election if they fail., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited.
Date: [1834]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1834-5 [5760.F.59]

Title: The model of a Republican president
Description: Anti-Jackson cartoon concerning Jackson's misuse of federal authority during the Bank War depicting the president as an autocrat emulating Napoleon Bonaparte. Standing beside a statue of the Emperor, Jackson puts on a Napoleon hat in front of a mirror, boasts of his resemblance to Bonaparte, and declares, "Down with the Senate." Attorney General Roger B. Taney, who squats by Jackson's side, places a pillow inscribed "Treasury" on the president's stomach to make him more "pursey" in order to complete his transformation if he "can bear the weight." Nearby compliant Jackson advisor Martin Van Buren states he deserves the purse as a reward for his war service. To the right, in front of the Senate archway, Treasury auditor Amos Kendall and a second figure of Taney discuss the "Protest to the Senate" and "Counter Protest" they have written for Jackson, probably an allusion to the controversial message written by Kendall and Taney about Jackson's veto of the bill to recharter the Bank of the United States., Title from item., Date supplied by Weitenkampf., Printed to right of title: ("I have taken your brother for my model") General Jackson to Joseph Bonaparte, Globe.", Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited.
Date: [1832?]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1832-8 [5760.F.52]

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: All on hobbies, gee up, gee ho!
Description: Cartoon depicting the possible candidates for the presidential election of 1840, riding hobby horses symbolizing their issues. President Van Buren leads the pack cheering on his "old hickory nag," "Sub Treasury," named after his financial program, which allowed independent agencies to administer federal funds. Politicians following Van Buren include: bullionist Senator Thomas Hart Benton on "Specie Currency," his "golden poney" which carries "more weight than any of them"; Senators Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, leading opponents to Van Buren's fiscal policy, bickering over their shared horse named after the defunct "United States Bank"; South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun riding his "consistent" horse "State Rights and Nullification"; 1836 presidential nominee William Henry Harrison, attired in uniform, on his "Anti-Masonic" horse that keeps a "pretty easy pace" but may "lose his wind" if another scandal like the abduction and murder of mason William Morgan does not occur; and Congressman John Quincy Adams steering away from the group on his "Ebony" horse "Abolition.", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entd accordd to Act of Congress in the year 1838, by H.R. Robinson, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York., Artist's initial lower left corner., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Described in Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American political caricaturist of the Jacksonian era (PhD diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 205., Accessioned 1989., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, lithographer
Date: 1838
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1838-1 [P.9249.8]

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