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]
