Perkins's grim picture of conditions in the goldfields of California during the 1849 Gold Rush contains a backhanded swipe at the outgoing Polk administration. In the foreground, violence breaks out against a backdrop of hills in the "Gold Region." On the left a man cuts the throat of another over a sack of gold, while beyond and farther to the left appear a man carrying a sack and another fallen victim. At far right two men spar with daggers, one of them evidently a Mexican or Spanish Californian, who declares, "Clear you D--d Foreigner our law is the law of might." Meanwhile, apparently oblivious to the mayhem, other men go about the search for gold. A man with a kerchief around his forehead calmly sifts a pan over a barrel or tub. Behind him another man with a flintlock slung across his back digs into the side of a small rise, and a third, wearing a smock, shovels ore into a wooden sieve. Visible above, beyond the hills, is the U.S. Capitol, on whose lawn stands newly elected President Zachary Taylor. In uniform with his hands behind his back, Taylor watches former President James K. Polk and five of his officers, in the form of birds, fly away toward California. They are armed with pickaxes and the spoils of office. Polk, in the lead, carries a sack marked "Secret Service 3,000,000 [i.e., dollars]" and declares, "The happiest days of my administration. We will take unto ourselves the wings of the morning and depart into the depths of California." Taylor addresses a man who aims a cannon at the flock of birds, "Hold on Capt Bragg 'Dont' waste your Gอัrape.' it is nothing but a "Shide-Polk." Our extra Session shall regulate "California."" These lines echo his famous and decisive order at the Battle of Buena Vista, "A little more grape Captain Bragg." Bragg responds, "As you say General but by G-d! I'd like to make him smell of Buena-Vista." Nearby is the "High Road to California" and a grave marker reading, "In Memory of the Shide-"Poke" Administration. Died 4 M[ar]ch 1849," the customary inauguration date.|Henry Serrell & S. Lee Perkins Lith & Pub 75 Nassau St. N.Y.|Signed: Perkins|Sold by Robert H. Elton 90 Nassau St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 98.|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 1849-3.

The Van Buren administration's record, particularly with regard to the handling of public finances, is condemned as corrupt and a perpetuation of unpopular Jacksonian policies. The artist echoes perennial Whig charges of the Democrats' disregard for the Constitution and their autocratic style of governing. The nursery rhyme theme of "The House that Jack built" employed here was also used in several earlier cartoons. (See nos. 1820-1 and 1833-6.) Murrell also reproduces an earlier and somewhat similar E. W. Clay version of the "House that Jack built," probably dating from the bank wars of around 1834. Here, the "House" is Jackson's subtreasury system, represented above by a banking house interior whose floor rests on "Constitutional Currency," and whose cellar stocked with empty boxes. The scene appears in a cloud of smoke, which comes from the pipes of Andrew Jackson (on the left) and advisor and publicist Amos Kendall (on the right). Kendall's pipe also blows bubbles, symbolizing vanity or idle schemes. Nine verses from the nursery rhyme and corresponding satirical scenes appear below. 1. "This is the Malt that laid in the House that Jack built." The scene shows crates labeled "Post Office Revenue," "Public Land Sales," "Custom House," "Bonds," and "Pension Fund," suggestive of administration graft and intrigues in a cellar. 2. "This is the Rat that eat the Malt . . ." shows Van Buren's Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury as a rat. 3. "This is the Cat that caught the Rat . . ." shows Daniel Webster as a cat toying with Woodbury. 4. "This is the Dog That worried the Cat, . . ." has Thomas Hart Benton as a dog threatening the cat Webster, who is now standing on a book "Constitution" atop a chair. 5. "This is the Cow, Whit the crumpled Horn, That tossed the Dog . . ." shows Henry Clay as a cow tossing Benton aloft. 6. "This is the Maiden all forlorn, That milked the Cow, . . ." John C. Calhoun as a milkmaid laments over a spilled bucket "Nullification" as the cow runs away with a sheet marked "Tariff." The reference is to Calhoun's role in the nullification crisis of 1832-33, and Clay's compromise tariff which temporarily resolved the conflict. 7. "This is the Man, all tattered and torn, That kissed the Maiden . . ." has Martin Van Buren in old Dutch clothing, wheeling a barrow of cabbages, saying "Here's your fine Kinderhook Early York Kabbitches." (Van Buren's home was in Kinderhook, New York.) 8. "This is the Priest all shaven and shorn, That married the Man . . ." Washington "Globe" editor Francis Preston Blair in liturgical vestment presides over the wedding of Calhoun and Van Buren, ridiculing the unlikely political alliance forged in 1840. 9. "This is the Cock of the walk, that crowed in the morn, That waked the Priest all shaven and shorn, . . ." A rooster with the head of William Henry Harrison stands on a globe "Ohio" as the sun rises behind it.|Davison lists a version of the print with the Childs address at 90 Nassau Street.|Entered . . . 1840 by John Childs.|Pub. by John Childs 119 Fulton St. New York.|Signed with monogram: EWC (Edward Williams Clay).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Davison, no. 155.|Murrell, p. 141 (earlier version).|Weitenkampf, p. 62-63.|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 1840-48.

A crudely-drawn, anonymous satire on the Jackson Administration, alleging political intrigue behind Jackson's September 1833 decision to remove federal deposits from the Bank of the United States. The cartoon adapts the nursery rhyme "The House that Jack built," portraying the Kitchen Cabinet (the derisive name given Jackson's informal circle of influential advisors) as rats "that eat the malt that lay in the house that Jack built" -- the malt being "The public Deposits." (For an earlier use of the same rhyme see "Parody. 605,000 Sour Grapes," no. 1820-1.) The view is framed by a colonnade, with the columns of the Bank visible at left. Between each pair of columns is a character from the nursery rhyme. Treasury Secretary William J. Duane is the cat "That caught the rats," possibly referring to Duane's opposition to Jackson's plan for removal of the deposits. Jackson, the dog "That worried the Cat," sits on a strong box with a key hanging from his neck. (Jackson dismissed Duane from his post for his intransigence on the Bank issue on September 23, 1833). The Senate is the cow "with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog" referring the stiff opposition Jackson's measures later met from the Senate. "The honorable ******" (possibly Silas Wright, Van Buren ally and staunch advocate of Jackson's bank policies in Congress, or Richard M. Johnson, Van Buren's 1836 vice-presidential running-mate) as the maiden "all forlorn, That milked the Cow" and was kissed by "the man all tattered and torn," Vice-President Martin Van Buren. Van Buren stands before a grandfather clock with a figure of Pan holding a fiddle, symbolizing chaos and turmoil. Newspaper editor and Jackson supporter Francis Preston Blair is the priest "That married the man, all tattered and torn, unto the Maiden all forlorn." Major Jack Downing, portrayed as a soldier with the head of a rooster and holding a flag reading "Jackson & Glory," is the cock "That crowed in the morn, and soured the priest..." In the foreground left, below the Jackson/dog figure, a boar tears apart the Constitution. The artist here echoes charges that Jackson exceeded his legitimate presidential authority in his removal order. The print was probably issued late in 1833, after Duane's dismissal by Jackson, and before the former sank from national visibility altogether. It may date from as late as the first half of 1834, when public debate about Jackson's removal action raged in the Senate.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf describes two similar cartoons, based on the same nursery rhyme. In one version, drawn by E. W. Clay and published in 1834, the maiden carries a pail marked "Vice President Office," and curiously (as in the present print) her face is averted from view.|Murrell, p. 149-152 (Clay version).|Weitenkampf, p. 34-35.|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 1833-6.

A Whig campaign print, showing William Henry Harrison greeting a wounded veteran before a log cabin by a river. The cabin flies an American flag with the words "Harrison & Tyler" and with a liberty cap on its staff. A coonskin is tacked to the side of the cabin, two barrels of hard cider stand by, and a farmer ploughs a field in the distance. The text below the image describes the scene: "This Log Cabin "was the first building erected on the North Bend of the beautiful Ohio River, with the barrel of cider outside and the door always open to the traveller. The wounded soldier is one of" Gen. Harrison's comrades, "meeting him after his celebrated Victory of Tippecanoe and not only does the brave old Hero give his comrade a hearty welcome, but his dog recognizes him as an old acquaintance, and repeats the welcome by a cordial and significant shake of his tail! If the looker-on will only watch close enough he can see the tail absolutely shake in the picture, particularly on a clear day, and if it is held due East and West, so, as to feel the power of the" magnetic attraction "from the Great West." The closing statement is a reference to Harrison's broad base of support in the western United States.|Lith. & published by Thomas Sinclair, no. 79 S. Third St. Phila.|Signed: J.T.F. (probably John T. French).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|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 1840-17.

A procession of butchers led by two Negro fiddlers, and featuring a large bull. On the ground before the bull are a cleaver, saw, and other butcher tools. The print is dedicated to Pennsylvania's recently elected Republican Governor Simon Snyder. Snyder was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and was the first representative of the German element and back-country farming class to be elected governor of the state.|Copyright secured. Etchd. by S. Folwell Philad. Decr 14, 1808.|The Library's impression was deposited for copyright by Christopher Wispart in Philadelphia on December 16, 1808, under the title "The Butcher's Procession."|Title appears as it is written on the item.|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 1808-1.

A memorial to nativist casualties of the violent clashes occurring between anti-foreigner "Native Americans" and Irish-American Catholics in Kensington, Philadelphia, May 6 through 8, 1844. The female figure of Columbia holds a large, billowing American flag near a broken column on which she places a wreath. On the column are the names of those Native Americans killed during the attacks on Catholic homes and institutions. At the top of the list, circled by Columbia's wreath, is the name of George Schiffler, the first and most famous of the nativist martyrs. Other names inscribed on the column are: Wright, Rhinedollar, Greble, Stillwell, Hammitt, Ramsey, and Cox. To the right of Columbia is an American eagle supporting a shield with the names of the wounded, including: Peale (the artist?), Whitecar, Lescher, Young, Wiseman, Willman, Schufelbaugh, Yocum, Ardis, Boggs, Ford, Bartleson, and Ort. Above the figure floats a streamer with the print's title. Below a similar banner reads "Deceased----We Revere Their Memory---Wounded---We Cherish And Reward Them---."|Entered . . . 1844 by Colon & Adriance.|Signed: On Stone by Wash (Washington) Peale.|The Library's impression of the print was filed for copyright on July 1, 1844.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1844-50.

A satire on the 1838 New York mayoralty contest, here shown as a horse race between (left to right) Whig candidate Aaron Clark, Democrat Richard Riker, and Loco Foco Democrat Isaac L. Varian. Clark is clearly in the lead. He waves his hat, saying to Riker who is close behind him, "Whip up Mr. Recorder, or Loco Foco will up with you neck and neck." The bespectacled Riker reassures him, "Dont be alarmed, you see he has bolted already, the 'ends of justice' will keep him at a distance." Varian's horse rears up and turns in the wrong direction spilling Varian's hat and box of "Loco Foco Matches" to the ground. Varian cries, "Confound the jade, she has kicked out of the traces, --this Locofocoism is carrying too much weight, them is my sentiments, shade of Sam Purdy, come to my relief, or I am distanced." From the spectators in the background come various remarks: "Aaron goes it in fine style, on his blood mare." "Yes I'll bet ten to one he wins the plate." "Dickey's [i.e., Riker's] racker shows signs of age, they say he's 21 years old." " Hoorawr! for Dickey, he's the "little joker!" "Varian shows signs of distress, he's heaving over part of his cargo." "I think he's rather dumfoozled, werry!" "If Varian aint distanced I'm a nigger."|Ent'd . . . 1838 by H.R. Robinson . . . New York.|Signed: Shanks (probably Edward Williams Clay).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 57.|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 1838-6.

A commentary on the depressed state of the American economy, particularly in New York, during the financial panic of 1837. Again, the blame is laid on the treasury policies of Andrew Jackson, whose hat, spectacles, and clay pipe with the word "Glory" appear in the sky overhead. Clay illustrates some of the effects of the depression in a fanciful street scene, with emphasis on the plight of the working class. A panorama of offices, rooming houses, and shops reflects the hard times. The Customs House, carrying a sign "All Bonds must be paid in Specie," is idle. In contrast, the Mechanics Bank next door, which displays a sign "No specie payments made here," is mobbed by frantic customers. Principal figures are (from left to right): a mother with infant (sprawled on a straw mat), an intoxicated Bowery tough, a militiaman (seated, smoking), a banker or landlord encountering a begging widow with child, a barefoot sailor, a driver or husbandman, a Scotch mason (seated on the ground), and a carpenter. These are in contrast to the prosperous attorney "Peter Pillage," who is collected by an elegant carriage at the far right. In the background are a river, Bridewell debtors prison, and an almshouse. A punctured balloon marked "Safety Fund" falls from the sky. The print was issued in July 1837. A flag flying on the left has the sarcastic words, "July 4th 1837 61st Anniversary of our Independence." |Entered . . . 1837 by H.R. Robinson. |Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt Street New York.|Signed: Clay fec. (Edward Williams Clay).|The Library's impression was deposited for copyright on July 8.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Davison, no. 98.|Munsing, p. 37-38. |Murrell, p. 150.|Weitenkampf, p. 48-49.|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 1837-8.

Election ticket for Jackson delegates from various Ohio counties in the presidential contest of 1828, illustrated with an image of a straw broom. The broom, a traditional pictorial and literary symbol of reform, is linked here to one of the mythological labors of Hercules -- his cleansing of the Augean stables.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1828-13.

An illustrated cover for a collection of Democratic campaign songs. Liberal Republican presidential candidate Horace Greeley and running mate Benjamin Gratz Brown appear in oval bust portraits framed by ivy. Above them an American eagle rests on two crossed American flags. The songs are "Greeley & Brown's Galop to the White House," "Greeley's Grand March," "Greeley's Favorite Polka," "Good Bye Ulysses, or We're Falling into Line," "The Farmer Goes Chopping on His Way," and "He Always Wears an Old White Hat."|Entered . . . 1872 by J.L. Peters . . . Washington.|Published by J.L. Peters. New York.|Snyder, Black & Sturn, 92 William St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1872-2.

An illustrated cover, dedicated "To The United Democracy," contains three Democratic campaign songs--"Seymour Schottisch," "Blair's Polka," and a "Tammany Grand March." Roundel bust portraits of Horatio Seymour and running mate Francis P. Blair, Jr., are surrounded by foliage and flowers. Above is a shield with the stars and stripes, flanked by two American flags and surmounted by an American eagle.|Alexander McClean, Lith.|Entered . . . 1868 by Balmer & Weber . . . Missouri.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1868-4.

A crude and unusually large woodcut, employing the metaphor of a mill to portray the spoils system under the Democrats (or "Tories" as they were labeled by the Whig press). The print may attack Andrew Jackson's program of distributing federal funds among various state banks, rather than retaining them in a central bank as was the practice until 1833. This program was referred to derisively in the opposition press as Jackson's "experiment." (See "The Experiment in Full Operation," no. 1833-8). The plan was viewed by many as a source of federal patronage and corruption. A uniformed Andrew Jackson turns the crank of a large grain or cider mill. On the left, urged on by a devil, four young men ascend the steps to the mill; the first is in the act of diving in. Coins pour into the mill from a chute labeled "U.S. Treasury" above it. On the right, four office-holders emerge carrying objects representing patronage spoils. The first has a bundle under his arm labeled "Custom House $6000"; the second carries a scroll inscribed "Post Office $6000"; the third has a box of twine labeled "Blanks and twine 3,000." A fourth man, just emerging from the mill, has a paper with "U States District Attorney $5000."|An inscription on the verso of the Library's impression states: "Probably printed at Hanover, N.H. about 1840 by E.A. Allen editor and friends of the "Iris and Literary Record (1841)." J.W. Moore . . ." This dating suggests that the cartoon refers not to Jackson's "experiment" but to Van Buren's later, independent treasury plan. His proposed system, whereby federal funds would be held and administered by the revenue-collecting agencies themselves or by local "sub-treasuries," was passed by Congress in July 1840 and yet was widely criticized as conducive to graft. However, given the appearance of Jackson here, and the absence of any reference to Van Buren in "The Tory Mill," a mid-1830s date is more likely.|Hanover, New Hampshire 1834-1840?|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 1834-11.

Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

A mild reproof of Zachary Taylor's evasion of the slavery question in the campaign of 1848. Although Taylor's views were widely broadcast in the form of published letters, his stand on the main issue--the Wilmot Proviso--remained unexpressed. (The Wilmot Proviso would have banned slavery in U.S. territories acquired during the Mexican War.) Here, in a clearing with the Capitol in the distance, Taylor is confronted by a country dweller and an urban dandy. The clearing stands between a forest on the left and a grove of cane on the right at which a black man, a stereotype like the others, cuts with a long knife. The rustic (far left) holds a shotgun or rifle and has a clay pipe between his teeth. In contrast, the city gentleman is finely dressed and holds a small cane. Taylor (center) wears a uniform and holds a walking stick or baton, and is flanked by two dogs (probably bloodhounds, reminders of his controversial use\ of dogs against the Indians in Florida during the Second Seminole War). The Wilmot Proviso lies on the ground before him. Country: "Now then General, in one word, What er yer Principles? for d'ye see, if yer devoid o priciple, yer aint fit to govern this great Nation, not by a darn'd long chalk." Town: "Why-aw! yes Genl? demme! we must know your princi- ples before we vote. we must indeed, aw!--demme!" Taylor: "Confound you both, Read my last Letter!" Country: "It's darn easy to read Genl. but rather difficult to to understand--I guess." To the right of Taylor a black man cutting cane remarks of Taylor, "He! He! He dam cunning, he wants to get in fust. he keep dark on de Wilmot Provis till de beery last. de dam ole Fox."|Drawn by Edward Williams Clay.|Entered . . . 1848 by H.R. Robinson.|Lith: & pub.: by H.R. Robinson 51 Park Row (adjoining Lovejoy's Hotel, N.Y.).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 95.|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 1848-32.

A parody of Democratic efforts to reelect incumbent Martin Van Buren in the face of broad popular support for Whig candidate William Henry Harrison. The print is a crude woodcut evidently based on Napoleon Sarony's "The New Era Whig Trap Sprung" (no. 1840-43), but differing in some details. The woodcut version includes on the cabin names of only eleven states (as opposed to twenty-one in the Sarony version), and omits the mound of clay and the eagle on the chimney. In addition the bale used as a fulcrum for Jackson's lever is labeled (probably in error) "N G" instead of "New-Orleans." Four other similarly primitive but bold woodcut campaign satires apparently by the same artist as "The Trap Sprung!," are also listed here. Three of them were issued from the same address, 104 Nassau Street (nos. 1840-26, -27, and -28). The fourth, "Uncle Sam's Pet Pups!"" (no. 1840-29) is clearly by the same artist, although published under Robert Elton's imprint.|Sold By Huestis & Co. 104 Nassau-St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 67.|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 1840-25.

A portrayal of Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury as a hen nurturing corruption and shielding New York City customs house officials from congressional scrutiny. Woodbury spreads his wings over several chicks pecking at gold coins beneath him, as two of the chicks swim off toward Liverpool. The foremost one represents former Collector of the Port Samuel Swartwout, found to have defrauded the government of nearly $1.25 million. The second is federal district attorney William M. Price, a coconspirator. Both fled to England. (See "Price Current" and "Sub Treasurers Meeting in England," nos. 1838-21 and -20.) Woodbury is threatened by a hawk, "Committee of Investigations," with the head of Kentucky congressman James Harlan, who flies overhead calling, "I'll have you! hen & all." Harlan was chairman of the House committee established in January 1839 to probe the Swartwout defalcations. The hen cries: "Hawk! . . . run! . . . Fly Sam [Swartwout] & Bill [Price]! take to the water--quick, before he comes! dive or he'll get you! . . . Here Hoyty [i.e., Swartwout's successor Jesse Hoyt]! hide between my legs! . . . hide Ogden! run Phillips! fly Fleming! come Gratiot! Hawk Boydy! . . . Linn! Scud Harris! Fly Spencer! Drop gold & run all! come under! . . .I'll cover you!"|Entered . . . 1839 by H.R. Robinson.|Printed & publd by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt & 11-1/2 Wall st. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 57.|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 1839-1.

A parody of the often worthless fractional currencies or "shinplasters" issued by banks, businesses, and municipalities in lieu of coin. These fractional notes proliferated during the Panic of 1837 with the emergency suspension of specie (i.e., gold and silver) payments by New York banks on May 10, 1837. "Treasury Note" differs from two similar mock bank notes, "6 Cents. Humbug Glory Bank" and "Fifty Cents. Shin Plaster" (nos. 1837-10 and -11) in being payable "out of the joint funds of the United States Treasury." It may mimic the interim notes, first proposed by the administration in September 1837, to be issued by the federal government to relieve the shortage of gold and silver during the crisis. The artist broadly attacks President Van Buren's pursuit of predecessor Andrew Jackson's hard-money policies as the source of the crisis. Witness the caricature at the right, of Jackson as an ass excreting coins or "Mint Drops," collected in a hat by a Van Buren monkey. Note also the presence of the former President at left, as an old woman clad in bunting, standing near a cracked globe (a punning allusion to the name of Francis Preston Blair's administration organ newspaper). The print also caricatures Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, an ardent bullionist and supporter of Jackson's and Van Buren's fiscal programs. Benton is shown as a tumblebug pushing a large ball, a motif given fuller treatment in "N. Tom O' Logical Studies" (no. 1837-14). In the main scene Van Buren appears as a winged monster on a wagon driven by Calhoun and drawn by a team of men in yokes through a narrow arch labeled "Wall Street" and "Safety Fund Banks." This may refer to the influence Van Buren exerted on New York banks through the Safety Fund system, whereby member banks observed a certain ratio of notes (paper money) to specie (coin) set by a state banking commission. The wagon crushes several men beneath its wheels. The Van Buren beast reclines on several weapons (symbolizing treachery) and sacks of treasury notes. In his tail he grasps a torch, having set off the destruction of a town which burns in the distance. Nearby stand Andrew Jackson and another man, perhaps fiscal adviser Reuben Whitney or Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury. Jackson says, "I did not think John C. could crack such a good whip." The second man responds, "Oh! Matty has had him in training, the nullifying turncoat." This is a swipe at Whig senator John Calhoun's recent support for Democratic measures in Congress.|"Printed & publd. by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt Street."|Signed: Napoleon Sarony.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Murrell, p. 152.|Weitenkampf, p. 49-50.|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 1837-9.

One of the few satires sympathetic to the Democrats to appear during the 1844 presidential contest. Democratic presidential nominee James Polk is portrayed as a buckskinned hunter who has treed "coons" Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen. (Clay's nickname "that old coon" had wide currency in the campaign.) Holding a knife in his left hand, Polk grasps the Clay coon by the tail, saying "You've got up the wrong tree this time! Down you must come." At left former President Andrew Jackson stands on a ladder leaning against the "Hickory" tree and chops at the branch holding the two Whigs. He exclaims "Get down from my tree you vermin!" Frelinghuysen says, "from this old man good Lord deliver us!" Clay adds in verse: The state of things is quite surprisin. / Such d--d bad luck my Frelinghuysen. / My struggles are of no avail / For Polk has got me by the Tail. Two other Democrats, John C. Calhoun and Richard M. Johnson, appear as dogs rushing in from the left, saying, "Down with the Coons." Another Democratic ex-President, Martin Van Buren, watches from the right, remarking, "This works according to my wish--The Coons are treed at last." In the right foreground incumbent President John Tyler sets his dogs on the coons, saying, "At them Bobby! Catch them Johnny! Dont let the other dogs get in before you I shall beat them yet." His dogs are son Robert Tyler (labeled "Repeal" for his activism on behalf of the Irish Repeal movement) and John Beauchamp Jones, editor of the newspaper the "Madisonian," organ of the Tyler administration. They also chant, "Down with the Coons."|Drawn by H. Bucholzer.|Entered . . . 1844 by A. Purdy.|Pub. by A. Purdy. Sold wholesale & retail at 98 Nassau St. N.Y.|The print was among a group of nine caricatures by Bucholzer registered for copyright on June 26, 1844. (See also nos. 1844-21 through -27, and 1844-32.) The Library's impression of this print was actually deposited the following day.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 79.|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 1844-20.

A somewhat puzzling commentary on two issues: slavery and economic protectionism. The date of the print is uncertain, but it may have appeared as part of the reaction against the Walker Tariff of 1846. A Northern bias is expressed on both issues. The text is abolitionist on the one hand and laments the absence of federal protection for American industry on the other. The author of the piece (which is less a cartoon than an arrangement of didactic tableaux) presents through his characters a number of reasoned arguments on the respective economics of slave and free industry and suggests a parallel between the hardships posed by the lack of protection for American manufacturers and the plight of the slaves. The irony of the piece rests on the fact that only the Southern slaveholder, whose interests were best served by the 1846 tariff, enjoys the shade of the symbolic Liberty Tree, which looms up in the foreground. Slave owner, fanned by a Negro slave: "Surrounded by Slaves & basking at ease by their labor we can have a clearer conception of the value of Liberty." Man borne in a litter by slaves: "Rather than submit to be a slave I would make our State a cemetery of Freemen." Slaves working under the whip of an overseer at right: "I had as lief work as not. If I had my own time to do it in." and "Who likes to be bound down to a Massa." Another: "Give me my own Country before Slavery." Further right a group of slaves converse: "Poor Sampson is dead!" "Is there nothing we can do?" "How many poor fellows heads have been stuck upon poles!" "The American People will come to a sense of Justice." "If they won't liberate "us," let our Children be free." "Our rejoicing on Bobalition days shew we are not the savages the white people take us to be." "And should our children be free when they are born they might learn the habits of industry & for hire do more work than any of our brethren are now willing to do." "We must be away Massa will see us." In the right background is a steam sawmill whose proprietor frets over his slaves, who run off saying, "Let's have a play spell" and "I'll be off." The owner laments, "What shall I do with my Slaves, they cost me more than their income, and they are more plague than profit, & if I could devise any means to get rid of them, what a triumph it would be--how can it be done without being a serious evil." The left half of the composition represents the North. Near the Liberty Tree two farmers converse: "I would not have a Slave to till my soil, to carry me, to fan me, to tremble when I wake for all the wealth that sinews bought & sold have earnt." "No! dear as freedom is, & in my heart's just estimation prized above all price I'd rather be myself the slave & wear the bonds than fasten them on him." Nearby a group of gentlemen speak: "O America! vast--wide--extended; a population increasing almost past calculation, embracing within thy limits some of almost every nation a refuge for the weary & distressed a home for the free; But O Slavery!! where will be thy bounds?" "Slaves cannot breathe in England, if their lungs receive 'its air' that moment they are free-- they touch 'that Country & their Shackles fall." In the background is a textile mill. Outside are several groups of mill girls. Their conversations concern the tariff and its effects: "What a noise the Southerners have been making about the Tariff." "I hope it is all over now." Second group: "I think if they will protect us Girls from the operation of foreign legislation as well as seamen against Pirates, we can make cloth as cheap as any body." "I dont believe English Girls can do more than we can." "The machinery went well to day." "I wove seventy yards." "I have got so as to tend three Looms." A third group: "I wonder what effect the taking the duty off Linen will have?" "Well in proportion as linen is used there will be less Cotton." "I Guess it will set the poor Irishmen to raising Flax." In the center, beyond the tree, a man on horseback leads a black woman carrying a bundle toward the right or Southern side of the print.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|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 1846-13.

A parade of jubilant New York City Whigs, led by successful mayoral candidate Aaron Clark (at right, with walking stick). Clark, who defeated Tammany candidate John J. Morgan in the Spring election, walks arm-in-arm with an unidentified man. He is followed by an Irishman carrying a sign which reads "Fortune's Favorite Aaron Clark." Perched on the sign is an eagle complaining that "I'm d--d sick of this set!!" He is followed by drum and fife players and several other men. On the left is a tall man seated at a small table on which are a box and a sign "Whig Nomination for Mayor Aaron Clark."|Signed: Brown fecit.|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 1837-4.