A satiric commentary on the effects of the landslide Whig victory in New York state elections in the autumn of 1838. President Van Buren (left) greets two of his defeated allies: incumbent governor William L. Marcy (center, in uniform) and Representative Churchill C. Cambreleng. Both men had the support of New York radical Democrats, or "Loco Focos." Van Buren: "Welcome old friends to me yet dear, Pray what the devil brings you here?" Marcy: "I have had leave to resign, and wish to be taken care of. If you had nothing better, I'll take the Office of Collector!" Cambreleng (wiping his eyes): "I am defeated in spite of the lamentations of the people!" Servant at the door, in a Dutch accent: "Vot rum-looking Coveys these is. I vonder Master admits them!" A portrait of Van Buren supporter Francis Preston Blair hangs on the wall of the room.|Entd . . . 1838 H.R. Robinson . . . Southn. Dist. of N.Y.|Printed & publd. by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt. St.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 53.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1838-12.

A satire on the Democrats' or "Loco Focos'" 1852 pursuit of Franklin Pierce for the presidential nomination. At the foot of the White Mountains in the "Dismal Swamp," an immense, swampy region of North Carolina and Virginia, Pierce is pursued by Loco Foco hunters in military uniforms. Pierce has been chased up a dead tree by either a fox (an allusion to party warhorse Martin Van Buren, perhaps) or a dog. Several hunters make their way through the water and tall grass toward him. Pierce cries, "Gentlemen don't fire! if you please I cant stand the smell of Powder! it makes me feel faint even to think of it!!" (On Pierce's reputation for fainting in combat see "The Game-Cock & the Goose," no. 1852-18.) A hunter standing on a log at left comments, "What a place to come to, find a Candidate." Another (standing at right) replies, "Well it aint such a bad spot, when the party are hard up, here's where we started that famous Poke [i.e., James K. Polk] in 44." A third hunter asks, "Ain't we got first rate men enough outside of this? I never heard of that fellow before." At far right, a man holding up a hat answers, "Thats just what we want, a Candidate, that nobody ever heard of; the people know our big men too well ever to elect any of them." A crane flies off to the right. |For sale by Nathaniel Currier at No. 2 Spruce St. N.Y.|Signed with initials: H.O.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 111.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1852-35.

A satire on the publisher's own troubles with the Democratic establishment in New York. In his print shop Henry R. Robinson is confronted by an unidentified man (center, arms crossed) who says, "I am determined this d---d Whig concern shall be shut up till after the Election." The man may be city surveyor and inspector Eli Moore. Robinson, standing with his back to a stove and holding a purse marked "$141," thumbs his nose and retorts, "Does Jesse Hoyt [Democratic strongman and collector of the port] know you're out?" The Custom House was the center of Democratic political control in New York. Robinson, a Whig, apparently ran afoul of the Democrats by his caricatures of Governor William L. Marcy. Marcy had recently been widely criticized for his handling of the Bamber case (see "Executive Mercy/Marcy and the Bambers," no. 1838-5). Two newsboys on the left ask, "Have you got any more of the Bamber Caricatures?" and "I want some more of your Whig Caricatures." Two men stand at the right, waiting to serve a notice of "Distress for Rent in Arrear." One of them says, "I'm afraid we sha'nt get our Rent." A shop clerk watches from behind the counter.|Drawn by "HD" (Henry Dacre?) or Edward Williams Clay.|Mention of the Bamber caricatures and recently appointed Collector Jesse Hoyt places "Loco Foco Persecution" in late 1838 or early 1839. Attribution to HD is based on the print's stylistic similarity to his "Specie Claws" (no. 1838-14), although the main figures seem to be drawn by a superior hand (possibly E.W. Clay).|Printed & publd. by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St: 11 1/2 Wall & 38 Chatham St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 51.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1838-8.

Democratic patronage in New York is parodied in a scene of Loco Foco drivers or carmen rushing for cab licenses distributed by recently appointed collector of the port, Democratic stalwart Jesse Hoyt. Hoyt replaced former collector Samuel Swartwout, who had been friendly to Whig and conservative interests. Hoyt stands at the entrance to the Custom House, center and symbol of Tammany corruption in the city. He hands out licenses to Loco Foco drivers, who carry whips of "Old Hickory" (a reference to party patriarch Andrew Jackson). The drivers shout "Hurrah! for Van Buren" and "Loco Foco for ever!" A cart with the number 1838 and "Licensed by the Collector" stands nearby.|Printed & pubd. by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. 11 1/2 Wall St. & 58 Chatham st. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 53.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1838-10.

A mock triumphal procession ridiculing "Loco Foco" or radical Democratic support of candidates James K. Polk and George M. Dallas. The Loco Focos are portrayed as ragged Irishmen, carrying the two candidates on a rail. Polk, holding tight to the rail, remarks, "It appears to me, friend Dallas that there is a wonderful democratic simplicity in the honors which are paid us!" Dallas, holding tight to Polk, replies, "It is true, friend Polk, that, on this occasion we shall find no difficulty in bearing our blushing honors meekly." One of the rail bearers exclaims, "Glory to those whom the people delight to honor!!!" The procession is led by a man in knee-breeches holding a weathervane with a tiny figure of incumbent President John Tyler on its tip. The man complains, "Bedad, I can't carry you [i.e., Tyler] if you turn with every flaw of wind." Two blacks, playing fife and drums, bring up the rear.|Entered . . . by James Baillie . . .|Lithography & print coloring on reasonable terms by James Baillie, no. 33 Spruce St. New York.|Signed: H. Bucholzer.|The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright on July 5, 1844.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 82.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1844-31.

A satire on the surprising alliance, forged early in the presidential campaign of 1840, between the Van Buren administration and southern or "nullification" Whigs in the circle of John Calhoun. At left editor Francis Preston Blair embraces Calhoun saying, "Now we will see if Pikens [i.e., South Carolina Congressman Francis W. Pickens] dare say again that I am a GíŰalvanized Corps &c &c.' I think this will cause Nulification Stock to raise." Calhoun replies, "It gives me great pleasure to say that the best part of the Measures of the present Cheif Magistrate, are approved of by me, and I am happy of the opportunity of making these declarations, and I will stand by them." Van Buren, dancing in the background, exults, "Hurrah for Nullification Stock. I am delighted, what will the D---d Whigs say, who cares for Granny-Harrison." An obese Dixon Hall Lewis (right) adds, "I say Matty, you will find Cataline and myself, of some weight." Calhoun is characterized as a traitor (thus Lewis's reference to the Roman Catiline) because of his shift in allegiance from Whig to Democrat. Weitenkampf tentatively dates this as 1836. Its close similarity to "Expansion & Contraction" (no. 1840-47) and its commentary on the Calhoun-Van Buren alliance make 1840 more likely.|Signed: J. McG. (lower left), and J. McGouldrick (lower right); Published and sold by H.R.Robinson Penna Avenue Wash D.C.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 44, 63.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-46.

A satire touching on some of the major issues in Connecticut politics on the eve of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. The two rival factions shown are the "Federals," who represented the trading interests and were for taxes on imports, and the "Antifederals," who represented agrarian interests and were more receptive to paper money issues. The two groups were also divided on the issue of commutation of military pensions. The artist here evidently sides with the Federals. Connecticut is symbolized by a wagon (top center) loaded with debts and paper money, the weight of which causes it to sink slowly into the mud. Its driver warns, "Gentlemen this Machine is deep in the mire and you are divided as to its releaf--" The wagon is pulled in opposite directions by two factions of the state's Council of Twelve. On the left under a beaming sun are five Federal councillors, who proclaim: "Pay Commutation," "Drive them to it," "I abhor the antifederal Faction," and "Comply with Congress." On the right the sky fills with angry storm clouds spewing thunderbolts, while the earth erupts in flames. Below six of the council's Antifederal members pull on their chain crying: "Tax Luxury," "the People are oprest," "curses on to Foederal Govermt.," "Success to Shays" (an allusion to charges that they sympathized with agrarian radicals led by Daniel Shay in Massachusetts), and "Curse Independence." The seventh Antifederal on the council, William Williams (here labeled with his press pseudonym "Agricola"), also appears. He stands defecating at right, with his trousers undone and a small animal--probably a skunk--between his feet. Williams remarks, "I fear & dread the Ides of May" (i.e. the May 15 elections to the upper house). The skunk sprays toward Williams's enemy Samuel Holden Parsons (far right, identified as "S--H--P"), president of the state's Society of the Cincinnati. Parsons, also obscenely bending over, sprays back saying, "A good Shot." In the left middleground, "Cato," a pseudonymous contributor to the "New Haven Gazette," comments, "I despise your Copper" to the man beside him, who holds a Connecticut coin and mutters, "Cur's commutation." In the center a farmer with a plough, rake, and bottle complains, "Takes all to pay taxes." In the left foreground three members of the Connecticut Wits stand on the Mount "Parnassus," and read from a scroll "American Antiquities" (excerpts from their "Anarchiad" published in Connecticut newspapers beginning in October 1786). To the right is the Connecticut shoreline and the buildings of Manhattan, the latter threatened by thunderbolts from the upper right. Three merchant vessels ply a body of water below, "From Connecticut to New York paying L40000 per annum Impost." In the left corner a tiny figure sits at a w7riting desk, reading a paper with the verse: "Tweedles Studdy/as I sit plodding by my taper." This piece alludes to a satirical poem by "Trustless Fox" in the "New Haven Gazette" of November 23, 1786. Its opening lines are: "As I sat plodding by my taper, I wreaked a glance into the paper . . . ." The interpretation given above is largely based on the commentary of a Sotheby's cataloger (see reference below). That writer suggests that "Trustless Fox" and the designer of "The Looking Glass for 1787" may have been one and the same, based on the references to material in the New Haven Press. |Attribution to Amos Doolittle is from the Sotheby's auction catalog.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Sotheby's "Fine Printed and Manuscript Americana." (Catalog of the auction sale April 16, 1988). New York: Sotheby's, 1988, no. 44.|Weitenkampf, p. 11.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1787-1.|Exhibited in: Creating the United States, Library of Congress, 2008.

Entered according 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. Printed & published by H.R. Robinson 52 Cortlandt St. & 11 1/2 Wall & 38 Chathrn. St. N.Y.|Inscribed in stone: By O'Graphic.|Signed in stone: C.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

A cartoon ridiculing Whig nominee Winfield Scott as the pawn of New York antislavery senator William Seward. A member of the "Whig Committee" kneels before Scott and offers him a crown and a bag of money marked "50,000,000." The man says, "Behold us at your feet great General, tired of the insolence of our democratic rabble, we, the Whig Party, have made a Coup d'etat, proclaimed an Empire and herewith offer you the Crown, and with the Crown $50,000,000 per annum!! Long live the Emperor!!! Huzza!!" Scott, holding his plumed hat and sword, leans against Seward. He asks his supporter, "Why thats a magnificent offer Seward, shall I accept it?" Sharpening his quill, Seward replies, "Certainly! by all means, you take the Crown and I'll take the $50,000,000 and the Pickings and the Stealings." In the right background stand other members of the "Whig Committee." On the left is Seward's writing table.|For sale by Nathaniel Currier? at No. 2 Spruce St. N.Y.|Signed with initials: J.L.M. (John L. Magee).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 107.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1852-27.

Satire on the escalation of tensions during the Maine-New Brunswick border conflict in February and March 1839. The dispute involved the claim to valuable, timber-rich territory in the Aroostook region. The area was occupied in 1838 by timber interests from Maine and Massachusetts. Canadian troops were summoned to eject them, and the state militia was called out in their defense. Maine governor John Fairfield pressed for federal military action against the Canadians. The artist here ridicules the bellicose elements on both sides. Van Buren sits astride an ox with Fairfield's head, wielding a sword and a shield emblazoned with a cabbage. The ox confronts a dog with the head of the Duke of Wellington, ridden by England's Queen Victoria, also armed with sword and shield. In the background British and American troops face each other across an open plain, while men fell timber in between. Victoria: "O fie Brother Jonathan, to threaten a young woman with a war about a few sticks of timber. If I have your property make it appear & I will pay for the value: do not compel me to quarrel when we ought to be friends." Wellington: "My Royal Mistress let us give them a touch of Waterloo, by so doing we can turn out the Whig Ministers." Van Buren: "I must make a flourish to please my Loco Foco friends, but in truth I don't relish committing myself in favor of war;--They may think I am not exactly the man to carry it on & call for Clay the never failing pacificator; but I must make a flourish." Fairfield: "Go ahead Matty I want to be elected Governer again. Make them retreat, or pay for the timber. Maine wants money & must have it." The ox's tail is pulled by Virginia Congressman Henry A. Wise. He argues, "Come Matty be Wise, don't be so very warlike, it won't do to fight about the timber, let them pay the value to brother Jonathan & he will be satisfied." Marked stylistic similarities between "The Main Question" and two other 1839 prints by HD, "The Cut Direct" and "The Meeting at Saratoga" (nos. 1839-3 and -4), strongly suggest common authorship.|Entd . . . 1839 by H.R. Robinson.|Probably drawn by H.D. (Henry Dacre?).|Pub. by H.R. Robinson 52 Cortlandt St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 58.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1839-5.

Democratic senator Nathaniel P. Tallmadge of New York was the leader of the conservative or pro-Bank Democrats. Here Clay satirizes Tallmadge's attempts to undermine party support for Van Buren's hard money fiscal agenda, whose cornerstone was his independent treasury program. The cartoon most likely dates from September 1837, when a coalition of Loco Foco and moderate Democrats robbed the conservative wing of the party of much of its support. Tallmadge appears here in the character of the Yankee militia officer "Joe Bunker," from James Hackett's comic play, "Down East, or the Militia Muster." He marches toward the right where a group of men rally beneath a "Madisonian" banner. (The "Madisonian" was a newspaper advocating the soft-money or pro-Bank interests of the Democratic party). Tallmadge turns to realize that his troops have deserted him to watch a parade of soldiers with a standard "The Message" moving toward the left. The "Message" was Van Buren's important September 14 message to Congress wherein he proposed his independent treasury system, as well as the temporary issue of treasury notes to alleviate the effects of the Panic of 1837. The soldiers loiter under the sign of the Van Buren Hotel. One calls out, "Hallo! Pigtail, you're wrong." Tallmadge also addresses his pigtailed fellow officer, "Blood and Nassacreeation! aint they comin' Captn Ben c. I swow I don't believe they see our colour." Pigtail responds, "If they dont, I'll oppose 'em, if it costs me $1600 and two more bullet holes in my hat." The men under the "Madisonian" banner lament, "We might as well go to Texas!," "Alas! poor Williamsburg," and "We're in the minority." Behind them is the "New National Bank." The expression "go to Texas" may refer to the contemporary code "Gone to Texas," used by embezzlers of the period."|Entered . . . 1837 by H.R. Robinson . . . Southern District of New York.|Signed with monogram: C (Edward Williams Clay).|The Library's impression was registered for copyright on September 16, 1837.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Davison, "E.W. Clay and the American Political Caricature Business," p. 104-105.|Weitenkampf, p. 50.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1837-13.

The man "wot pays no postage" here is Van Buren ally and publicist Amos Kendall. The profits and influence Kendall derived from publication of the administration organ the "Extra Globe" were no doubt increased by his free use of federal franking privileges and the mails. The particular issue addressed here is uncertain, but involves a claim submitted by a Mr. Reeside. Here Kendall is seated at a table strewn with documents "Post Roads," "Mail," and "A. Kendal Dr. to Reeside." He is confronted by an unidentified man (probably Reeside) at left who presents a bill for |Entd . . . 1839 by H.R. Robinson . . . Southn. Dist. of New York.|Printed & publd. by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt. |Signed: N.S. (Napoleon Sarony).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 58.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1839-17.

Another commentary on the Texas question (see "Texas Coming In," no. 1844-28), illustrating Democratic campaign strategy as advanced by Andrew Jackson. The idea of the annexation of Texas, repudiated by many of the early presidential candidates in the field, including Henry Clay and Martin Van Buren, was embraced by Democratic nominee James K. Polk. As the campaign developed the Texas question became an important issue. The artist shows it to be a decisive weapon for the Democrats against Clay and his pro-Bank platform. The "masked battery" is a large cannon fired by Polk and the diminutive Democratic senator from Mississippi Robert J. Walker. Walker's February letter defending annexation had brought the Texas issue to the fore in the campaign. The cannon has been "masked" or hidden from the Whigs on the left by two rows of knights, among whom are Van Buren and Calhoun (carrying flags of their respective states, New York and South Carolina) and John Tyler and Richard M. Johnson. In a balloon above the scene appear Andrew Jackson's "General Orders" on the campaign strategy: "Let the enemy expend their fire on the veteran candidates in Armor [Van Buren, Calhoun, et al], drawn up before the Battery so as to hide it perfectly. Then, when the enemy is prepared to charge, open suddenly to the right and left in double quick time, and let go the big Gun charged with Texas." Polk, lighting the charge, says "Alas poor Harry! You should not have stood by that Bank and opposed our younger sister State who asks our help." At left, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and other Whigs are felled by the "Texas" cannonball. Clay is knocked into a column of the U.S. Bank, which breaks and topples the building. Clay: "Oh! who would have thought that behind those leaders they had a commander-in-chief & a masked battery, with my old enemy [i.e., Polk] I d--d to H--l, on the Pensylvania avenue. How did he come here? I'm a gone coon!" Clay refers to his celebrated outburst against then-Speaker of the House Polk in 1838. (On this, see "Scene in Washington," no. 1838-16). Clay's running-mate Theodore Frelinghuysen appears at the far left as a devil in clerical robes, weighed down by an immense "Bag of lies about the Loco Foco Candidates not yet paid for." He says, "The main pillar of the Bank broken! who is now to pay me for all the lies I had stored up in Washington against the Loco Foco candidates? It is too late to make up any about Polk & Dallas, & I shall never be paid unless I take my men on whom the Bank is falling." |Entered . . . 1844 by James Baillie, N.Y.|Lithography and print coloring on reasonable terms by James Baillie No. 33 Spruce St. New York.|Official records show that the print was registered for copyright on June 28, 1844. The Library's impression is inscribed with the deposit date of July 1.|Signed: H. Bucholzer.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 75.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1844-29.

An imaginative but puzzling commentary on sectional tensions over slavery between New England abolitionists and southern agrarian slaveholders. In his sweeping satire the artist also portrays a considerable hostility toward blacks as existing among various ethnic groups, including the Germans, French, Irish, and Scots. The title and main conceit here play on the differing regional cuisine: Cod-Fish as the staple of the North and, for the South, "Hopping-John," which he identifies as "Stewed Rice, Cow-Peas, & Bacon a Noble & invigorating dish much in Vogue," and "Johnny-Cake" or "Indian Corn-Bread the stamina of the South." A crowd has gathered at a wharf to witness a confrontation between a man draped from head to foot with cod-fish and onions and a wealthy southerner (center). The former grips the hand of a black youth (far right) and declares "Massachusetts never will relax in her demand, for this gentleman and friend of mine [i.e., the black man], enjoying his rights & protection, in the true spirit and meaning of the Constitution of the United States." A young woman stands at the man's side, her arm around his, and reassures the black youth, "Poor Soul Sir will do all he can to save you, from these wretched varmints." The southerner, who is dressed in white breeches, riding boots, and coat, reacts angrily, waving his riding crop, "There lies your path! be off at once, with that Black Villain for we are resolutely determined to permit no innovations in our Constitution and Sacred Laws at the hazard of Life & Fortune." A stout man in a long coat to the left chimes in on the southerner's behalf, "Why you must be a downright Ass to presume that our Sacred Constitution and Laws can be altered to suit your nonsensical Cod-Fish and Onion Notions." The black man, who is barefoot, says to his protector, "Ole Massa I tink wee best go way kase dees Bockara is blongst foh make Swonga dat fashion. But dem hadn't ought foh call you ole ho! Dem is too Cubbitch to gie me right!" Various comments come from the crowd. An Irishman: "Tunder & turf de darn Nagur has nie call wid de Repeal My honey." The Repeal movement was a source of strife in Ireland at the time (see "O'Connell's Call and Pat's Reply," no. 1843-1.) A Frenchman: "Vous etes bougres black dem rasskal. Je ne parle wis un Diable." A German or Dutchman: "Verdam black baese quiesta. Der fisch isch more schtink auer saur-Crout und kase!" A club-wielding Scotsman: "A'l noke ye doon ye black veelain gin ye 'mak anither wee whimper." Another man: "Hold your jabbering You black Son of a ----." Several slaves and their master appear at far left. The slaves remark, "Please ole massa let me gie that Yankee Nigga one Punch in e gut," "Ole Massa Chase it foh ebery body gwine free," and "Hold you mout you is one dam fool." In the foreground sits a large cannon with mottoes inscribed: "Pro Patria" and "Animis opibusque parati." Beneath the cannon a pile of spilled coins, "Our Blood & Treasure."|James Akin of South Carolina Lithographer, Philadelphia, April 1845.|Published at no. 18 Prune St. Philad.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Purchase Caroline and Erwin Swann Memorial Fund.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1845-6.

A satire on the Democrats' approach to the delicate question of the annexation of Texas. In marked contrast to his portrayal of the issue as a beautiful woman in "Virtuous Harry" (no. 1844-27), the artist here presents Texas as the ugly hag War or Chaos, brandishing a dagger, pistols, whips, and manacles. She embodies the threat of war with Mexico, feared by American opponents of annexation. The whips and manacles in her left hand may also allude to slavery, whose expansion into the new territory was desired by southern annexationists. Bucholzer parodies Van Buren's evasion of the controversial and sectionally divisive issue and Democratic candidates Polk and Dallas's motives in favoring the measure. Senators Thomas Hart Benton and John C. Calhoun confront Van Buren with Texas, whom they support on a plank across their shoulders. Calhoun says, "Come, Matty, we introduce you to the Texas Question, what do you say to her Ladyship?" Van Buren, backing away, replies, "Take any other shape but that and my firm nerves shall never tremble!" Andrew Jackson, who prods Van Buren from behind with his cane says, "Stand up to your lick-log Matty or by the Eternal you'll back into Salt River before you know it." In the background right are Polk and Dallas. Polk says, "What say you Dallas? She's not the handsomest Lady I ever saw but that $25,000 a year-- Eh! it's worth a little stretching of Conscience!" (The annual salary of a U.S. President was $25,000.)|Drawn by H. Bucholzer.|Entered . . . 1844 by James Baillie.|Lithography & print coloring on reasonable terms by James Baillie No. 33 Spruce St. N.Y.|The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright on July 24, 1844.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 76.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1844-36.

A satire published before the Democratic convention, predicting would-be presidential nominee Martin Van Buren's second "bath in Salt River" (the first one being his unsuccessful bid for reelection in 1840). On the left bank of "Salt River," a colloquialism for political failure or misfortune, Whigs Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and two unidentified men combine strength to pull a fox with Van Buren's head from the opposite bank and into the water. The "Kinderhook fox," as Van Buren was known, loses his footing. He has been supported by (left to right) incumbent President John Tyler, Tyler's son Robert, Senator Thomas Hart Benton, and an unidentified fourth man. Tyler has had ahold of the fox's tail, which has just come off in his hands, and all collapse in a heap. Clay taunts Van Buren, "Walk up, Matty this is only the Sober second thought of the people." "Sober second thoughts" was a catch-phrase in the 1840 campaign, referring to Van Buren's desertion by working-class supporters. (See "Sober Second Thoughts," no. 1838-15). Van Buren pleads with Tyler, "Hold on, hard, Tyler: for I have been so deep in Salt River once that I shiver at the thought of another sousing." Tyler: "Oh! cursed luck! There is nothing left me but your tail! Is this the way you reward your devoted friends? I wish you had kept it!" Robert Tyler (a poet): "No matter, father, I'll use them up in a poem of 50 Cantos." Benton, as "Mint Drops" (i.e., gold coins, symbolizing his bullionist monetary stance) fall from his pocket, brandishes a quill pen, saying, "If I must fall, preserve this sacred pen which expunged the villainous Clause." The expunging quill was a memento of Benton's successful campaign to strike the Senate's 1834 censure of Andrew Jackson from the congressional record. Standing on a bank at the lower right, waving his cane, Democratic patriarch Andrew Jackson exclaims, "By the Eternal! They have forsaken Matty "in his extremity." I always prophesied that Tyler would not stick to him "in the end!"" His comment sums up the message of the cartoon, which is that Van Buren's campaign was hampered by erosion of his traditional Democratic support and internal divisions within the party ranks during the spring of 1844.|Entered . . . 1844 in the Office of the S. District of N.Y.|Lith. & pub. by James Baillie 33 Spruce Street N.Y.|Signed: H. Bucholzer.|The Library's impression of "Matty Taking His Second Bath" was deposited for copyright on May 16, eleven days before the Democratic convention opened in Baltimore. On May 29 James K. Polk received the party's presidential nomination.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 80.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1844-16.

Clay portrays Martin Van Buren driven from the White House by nightmares of cider barrels and Whig presidential challenger William Henry Harrison. Van Buren flees the presidential mansion in his nightshirt, dropping a purse on the steps behind him. He is pursued by the specter of a winged barrel of hard cider with the head of Harrison. Van Buren speaks in quasi-Shakespearean verse: Oh I have had a dream so horrible, Twould make the wiry stubble of your head -- Stand stiff as cabbage stalks in frozen field! Methought, whilst slumbering in my chair of state, My custom always of an afternoon, a cider barrel Rose from out the earth, and, nearly simultaneous, A horrid engine like unto a cider press; Within which press, by some invisible hand, I felt myself impelled! Oh then, methought, What pain it are to smash! and how intolerable -- Our sufferings is! as I my vital juices did pour forth. Anon a legion of foul fiends in shape Of cider barrels, did environ me, and one, With head resembling an old hero, Screamed in my ears "Remember March the 4th & Harrison", But ha! that form and voice again! See how he beckons me! I must absquatulate! March 4 was at that time the traditional inauguration day. For another use of the curious term "absquatulate" (also "absquabulate") see James Akin's "The Little Magician's Sleight of Hand Performance" (no. 1840-40). In the street Van Buren encounters two startled allies, Senators John Calhoun and Thomas Hart Benton. Calhoun exclaims, also in verse: My liege what dreadful vision has, In the lone dreary hour of night,Thus harrowed and unstrung your royal nerves? Benton, peering through his monocle, says: My liege this is the very coinage of your brain! I see no cider barrel fiend nor aught Save these few mint drops from your highness purse No doubt escaped which I within the folds of my cravat Will keep secured. The "mint drops" to which Benton refers are the coins which spill from Van Buren's purse. This is a double reference to the perennial Whig charge of corruption of the Democratic administration and to Benton's bullionist championing of hard money fiscal policy. The verse sounds Shakespearean and, given the supernatural subject matter, may allude to "MacBeth" or "Hamlet. For example, when Hamlet first meets his father's ghost in Act 1, Scene 5, the ghost says, "I could a tale unfold whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul . . . and each particular hair to stand an end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine." Based on the subject, Weitenkampf dates "Matty's Dream" 1841. The Whigs were victorious in the 1840 election but, like "Notice to Quit" (no. 1840-59) the print represents confident but premature hopes on the artist's part, rather than post-election gloating. As the Library's impression shows, the print was deposited for copyright on August 26, 1840. "Price 25 Cents" is printed in the margin of the print.|Entered . . . 1848 by J. Childs.|Published by John Childs, no. 90 Nassau St. New York.|Signed with monogram: EWC (Edward Williams Clay).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Davison, no. 145.|Weitenkampf, p. 70.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-54.

A pro-Whig satire on the presidential campaign of 1840. Martin Van Buren is neck-deep in the waters of "Salt River," a colloquial term for political misfortune or failure. He sinks under the weight of boxes marked "Tariff," "Hooe's Trial," "Negro Suffrage," "Sub Treasury," and "Standing Army of 200,000 Men," surmounted by a crown with a hand holding a purse. His hat, filled with newspapers friendly to the administration, floats away. Whig candidate William Henry Harrison paddles downstream on a barrel of hard cider. On the shore behind him is a shed labeled "Humane Society's Apparatus for the Recovery of Drowned Persons." Van Buren: "Oh that I could shake off this load! I am sinking deeper and deeper into the quicksand of Loco Focoism! Help! Ming! Riel! Slam! Bang! Help!" (He names New York Democratic figures Alexander Ming and Levi Slamm.) Harrison: "It's a pity to let the poor fellow drown; I had an idea of making him Inspector of Cabbages of Kinderhook for that's all he's good for; but I think he will sink. Oh what a weight!"|Entered . . . 1840 by J. Childs. |Published by J. Childs no. 90 Nassau St. N.Y.|Signed with monogram: EWC (Edward Williams Clay).|The Library's impression was deposited for copyright on August 31, 1840. Printed in the lower margin is "Price 25 Cents."|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 65.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-55.

The second of two prints by "HD" portraying scenes from President Van Buren's visit to the resort at Saratoga Springs, New York, during the summer of 1839. (See also "The Cut Direct," no. 1839-3.) The satire comments favorably on Whig presidential hopeful Senator Henry Clay's successful precampaign tour of New York State that summer. In a ballroom Clay is greeted by Martin Van Buren, who says, "Mr. Clay you are welcome to the Empire state, I am quite rejoiced to see you so popular among the good people." Clay responds, "I thank you Mr. President for this cordial reception it is a proud and noble state and when thrown upon her own energies and resources uninjured by experiments she will be first in grandure and prosperity as she is the first in population & patriotism." Clay's reference to "experiments" may allude to Van Buren's proposed independent treasury program, whereby federal revenues would be held and paid out not by private banks or a federal treasury but by the collecting agencies or local "sub-treasuries." This concept was linked in opposition rhetoric to former President Andrew Jackson's "experiment" in decentralizing the federal treasury through abolishing the Bank of the United States and distributing funds among state banks. At left New York Democratic Senator Nathaniel P. Tallmadge and Gen. Winfield Scott converse. Scott observes that "the great men are quite cordial" and that Clay's reception was "very chee[r]ing." Tallmadge, an opponent of Van Buren's fiscal program, responds that Clay "deserves all that the people can do for him . . ." The men in the background are unshaven and wear extremely long locks. One remarks, "A cool thousand that I will never shave again--I may be shaved but thats fashionable dem me." Some of Henry Clay's supporters would not shave or cut their hair until Clay won the presidency. |Lith. of H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. |Signed with monogram: HD (Henry Dacre?).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 58.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1839-4.

New York governor Horatio Seymour's famous "My Friends" speech, delivered from the steps of New York's City Hall during the draft riots, was widely misrepresented in the press. On the basis of reports such as this, Seymour was viewed as a disloyal "Copperhead" agitator. The riots, which took place between July 11 and 16, 1863, broke out as a result of the Enrollment Act, which was highly discriminatory to the lower classes. (On this see "Wanted a Substitute," no. 1863-13). Although not an enthusiast of President Lincoln's war policies, Seymour actually rushed to the scene of the riots and tried to restore order. Here Seymour stands on the City Hall steps, addressing a motley crowd of armed rioters, most of them Irish. In the foreground one rioter holds the head of a black man in a noose, while three other black men hang from a tree in the background. (In reality, the rioters sacked and looted a Negro orphan asylum and hanged black men from lampposts.) Behind Seymour stand three men, including (left to right) a fool (no doubt a newspaper editor) wearing a cap labeled "Express," former mayor Fernando Wood (whose top hat fails to conceal a pair of devil's horns), and a man resembling Tammany boss Peter B. Sweeny, with a hat tagged "4-11-44." Below the scene is the dialogue: A Friendly Voice: "Governor, we want you to stay here." Horatio Seymour: "I am going to stay here, MíŰy Friends'" Second Rioter: "Faith and the Governor will stay with us." Horatio Seymour: "I am your fíŰriend;" and the fíŰriend' of your families." Third Rioter: "Arrah, Jemmy, and who said he cared about the DíŰirty Nagurs'?" Fourth Rioter: "How about the draft Saymere?" Governor: "I have ordered the president to stop the draft!" Chorus: "Be jabes, he's a 'broth of a boy." Weitenkampf, probably correctly, attributes the drawing for the print to Henry L. Stephens. It may have been published in connection with the New York "Tribune," whose building is prominent in the background. The "Tribune's" editor, Horace Greeley, was among Seymour's most vocal critics. |Probably drawn by Henry L. Stephens, New York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 138.|Purchase; Caroline and Erwin Swann Memorial Fund.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1863-12.