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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: 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]

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