Christmas
Merry Old Santa Claus
Harper’s Weekly – January 1, 1881
Of all the symbols Nast created, popularized or inspired, Santa Claus is the most endearing, and probably will be the most enduring, as an irresistible holiday image — for both hearts and pocketbooks. The merry old Santa who appears in countless newspapers on Christmas Eve or Day every year, mirrors the artist’s features. […]
Oil Paintings
Oil Paintings – 1895, 1897
Nast identified closely with Santa Claus, as evidenced by this 1895 painting which contains his own features. Two years later, he painted a self-portrait for the 100th Anniversary of the Morristown, New Jersey, Volunteer Fire Department with the same nose and pudgy cheeks. Both are in the Macculloch Hall […]
Santa Claus and His Works
Harper’s Weekly – December 29, 1866
Clement Moore personified the modern Santa Claus when he wrote his iconic ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas in 1822, but it wasn’t published in book form until 1848.
The centerpiece of Nast’s 1866 double-page, 20-vignette cartoon depicting Santa’s Workshop featured Moore’s elfin, fur-suited Santa standing on a chair to […]
Merry Christmas
Harper’s Bazar – January 3, 1880
Santa was extremely personal to Nast and his family; they appeared in many of the 33 Santa Claus cartoons he drew for Harper’s Weekly and the 21 he drew for Harper’s Bazar over 24 years.
Tommy and Sallie Nast had five children whom they doted on, and spaced over […]
Santa Claus’s Mail, Santa Claus’s Rebuke
Harper’s Weekly and Harper’s Bazar – December 30, 1871
Early on, Nast featured bad behavior in a few family Christmas cartoons. Six-year old Tommy must have been really “naughty,” as Papa and Mamma complained to Santa in Harper’s Bazar. The similarly-dated Weekly showed Santa receiving about six times more letters from “naughty children’s parents” while […]
Christmas Eve
Harper’s Weekly – January 3, 1874
As his children grew older, Nast struggled to keep the mystery of Santa alive for them. Technological improvements like gas lighting enabled middle-class families to stay awake well past sunset. His post-dated 1873 Christmas cover illustration showed a still-smiling Santa waiting on the roof for the children to […]
The Same Old Christmas Story Over Again
Harper’s Weekly – January 4, 1873
Even though the tensions of Nast’s campaign against Horace Greeley campaign resulted in Nast’s physical collapse after President Ulysses Grant’s November 1872 victory, his depictions of Santa as a disciplinarian were over. His post-dated loving double-page cartoon showed four-year old Edith and seven-year old Tommy blissfully dreaming about […]
“Another Stocking to Fill”
Harper’s Weekly – January 3, 1880
Thomas and Sallie Nast’s youngest child, Cyril, was born on August 28, 1879 — an unexpected “accident,” probably conceived the previous Thanksgiving. Nast celebrated with Another Stocking to Fill, perhaps the tenderest illustration he ever drew. A ten-stanza poem began with “What Mama Thinks” and closed with “Santa […]
“Hello! Santa Claus!” “Hello! Little One!”
Harper’s Weekly – December 20, 1884
In 1884, Nast pictured Mabel, 13, talking to Santa (with Nast’s features) directly on a new-fangled telephone. (Alexander Graham Bell’s patent had been granted in 1876, and the first switchboard was established two years later in New Haven.)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
Harper’s Weekly – December 25, 1886
Appropriately, Nast’s last Christmas cartoon for Harper’s Weekly appeared on its cover, post-dated at the start of his final week at the publication in 1886.
Once more, he played off ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, but he now featured the sleeping mice in their beds and their house. Among […]
Boss Tweed
The “Brains”
Harper’s Weekly – October 21, 1871
William Magear Tweed’s Protestant ancestors emigrated from Kelso, Scotland (on the Tweed River) in the mid-1700s. Bill was a third-or-fourth-generation New Yorker, born on April 3, 1823.
For about 75 years after his death, Tweed’s middle name was mistakenly thought to be Marcy; actually it was Magear, his mother’s maiden […]
Who Stole the People’s Money? – Do Tell
Harper’s Weekly – August 19, 1871
The “Big Four” Ring members — Bill Tweed, Peter Sweeny, Oakey Hall and Richard Connolly — all belonged to Tammany, with Tweed as Grand Sachem (chief) from 1863 until his downfall in late 1871. Dignified John Hoffman served as frontman, first as […]
The Economical Council, Albany, New York
Harper’s Weekly – December 25, 1869
Here, Nast included all four principal Ring members for the first time. His Economical Council was all about money, not religion. Pius Hoffman I, wearing a Tammany papal crown and holding two “Tax Levy” golden keys, declared: “No discussion necessary for $ . . . that is condemned.” […]
The Power Behind the Throne
Harper’s Weekly – October 29, 1870
Nast knew that ridicule was probably the only effective way to attack the Ring, but there was no obvious approach. Tweed, Sweeny, Hall and Hoffman all had positive public images, while the press was largely controlled. Tammany excelled at keeping mouths and records closed, so meaningful information was […]
The Welcome to New Cork
Miss Columbia’s Public School – 1871
Tammany Hall — named after Tamarend, a Delaware Indian chief — began as a patriotic social organization prior to 1800, but soon became a Democratic political club whose support and tactics often decided New York City elections. As the number of poor, uneducated Irish immigrants — many speaking […]
Our Modern Falstaff Reviewing His Army
Harper’s Weekly – November 5, 1870
The Irish support for the Tweed Ring peaked on Election Day when they were to vote illegally in as many election districts as possible, using false identifications and addresses — taverns, brothels and vacant lots included. In 1870, Mayor Oakey Hall created additional election districts to make repeat […]
“That’s What’s the Matter”
Harper’s Weekly – October 7, 1871
After the polls closed and the ballot box shenanigans were complete, two canvassers in each district tallied the votes and forwarded the results to election headquarters. Now Tweed played his key card — counting.
While in jail shortly before his death, Tweed explained how he controlled elections: “Count the […]
Going Through the Form of Universal Suffrage
Harper’s Weekly – November 11, 1871
There were plenty of other tricks like dropping Republican votes into fake ballot boxes. Just before the election, Nast captured that, substituting a wastebasket, as the gang leered and the police looked on.
Tweed’s methods were effective. After the 1870 elections, Democrats controlled every branch of the New York […]
“It’s Love that Makes the World Turn Round”
Harper’s Weekly – November 12, 1870
To ensure favorable publicity and continuing public support, the Ring bribed the press overtly and covertly. Mayor Oakey Hall distributed city advertising to 54 daily and 26 weekly newspapers in the city and state to keep them from attacking Tammany, even if not actively supporting it. Advertising included […]
Tweedledee and Sweedledum
Harper’s Weekly – January 14, 1871
Tweed also had a reputation for generosity, although its sources were totally tainted. He did do some good with his ever-increasing tax levies by supporting parochial schools, orphan asylums, hospitals, homes for the friendless and dispensaries, and personally giving random gifts of food and coal.
In 1870, he publicized […]
Senator Tweed in a New Role
Harper’s Weekly – April 16, 1870
New York had both a city and an overlapping county government, providing duplicate opportunities for patronage and graft. The Common Council/Aldermen (“Forty Thieves”) prepared the City budget, while the Board of Supervisors prepared the County budget. Each body could levy taxes and issue bonds. Some individuals worked for […]
Our Common Schools As They Are and As They May Be
Harper’s Weekly – February 26, 1870
After the Tweed Ring obtained more power in state as well as city government, Church schools received a large proportion of common school funding. Nast’s three-vignette cartoon was, in effect, right on the money. Justice, with an Irish scale weighed down with “Fraudulent votes,” gave bags full of […]
Foreshadowing of Coming Events in Our Public Schools
Harper’s Weekly – April 16, 1870
A fundamental rift in America preceded the 1846 assumption of the Papacy by Pius IX. As the massive influx of Irish immigrants and potential voters increased annually, New York Governor William Seward wanted to attract them to the Whig (pre-Republican) party. During 1840-42, he pressed the State Legislature […]
The New Board of Education
Harper’s Weekly – May 13, 1871
As the Tweed Ring’s power peaked, Nast showed the Boss and his cronies throwing out the old textbooks printed by Harper’s, and substituting new books published by Tweed’s New York Printing Company. This would have cost Harper Brothers at least $50,000 annually if Tweed had not been overthrown. […]
The American River Ganges
Harper’s Weekly -September 30, 1871
At the height of the Tweed campaign, Nast launched one of his all-time best — some say also his most notorious — cartoons: The American River Ganges. Sub-titled The Priests and the Children, it accompanied Eugene Lawrence’s scathing commentary of the same name on the preceding page. Lawrence pointed […]
Under the Thumb
Harper’s Weekly – June 10, 1871
In addition to potent caricatures, Nast also needed a catchy slogan that, when repeated often enough, would incite his audience to vote Tweed and the Ring out of office in the November election, now less than six months away. As protests became more audible, an April 4 mass […]
Shadows of Forthcoming Events (extract)
Harper’s Weekly – January 22, 1870
Tweed’s next target reportedly was Washington. As early as January 1870, Nast drew a forboding 15-vignette cartoon entitled Shadows of Forthcoming Events. One scenario forecast Hoffman and Tweed as the Democratic ticket for 1872. However, as time passed, the rumored slate became Hoffman for President, Hall to replace […]
On to Washington
Harper’s Weekly – June 17, 1871
As talk about Tweed’s and Hoffman’s national ambitions increased, Nast — who was determined to do all he could to help Grant get reelected in 1872 — had an extra burr under his artistic saddle. He responded to the threat with two major cartoons and several vignettes.
On to […]
The Rich Growing Richer, the Poor Growing Poorer
Harper’s Weekly – September 2, 1871
The majority of Harper’s normal circulation of about 135,000 went to middle and upper-middle income readers. To overthrow Tammany, Nast knew he had to attract and convince lower-class voters whose time, finances and literacy were limited. He appealed to them with three lifestyle-contrasting cartoons, which were ultimately made […]
Wholesale and Retail
Harper’s Weekly – September 16, 1871
An even stronger contrast followed two weeks later, as the Big Four made their last appearance as comparative equals. In Wholesale and Retail, they left the City Treasury with bulging pockets and police salutes as a smirking Tweed and conspiratorial Sweeny led the way. A worried Hall, behind […]
A Group of Vultures Waiting for the Storm to “Blow Over”—”Let Us Prey”
Harper’s Weekly – September 23, 1871
Many of Harper’s regular readers who had been on vacation as the Times disclosures rolled out in July and August, returned by September. The Citizens Association held a meeting of influential citizens from both parties on September 4, and formed a Committee of Seventy to lead the charge […]
“Too Thin!”
Harper’s Weekly – September 30, 1871
On September 7, Judge George Barnard, a close friend of Tweed, saw the handwriting on the wall and tried to save his job (unsuccessfully) by double-crossing the Boss and issuing an injunction prohibiting Comptroller “Slippery Dick” Connolly from any further issuance of bonds or contracts.
On Saturday, September 9, […]
“Stop Thief!”
Harper’s Weekly – October 7, 1871
Back on August 27, the Times had editorialized “Why (Comptroller Richard “Slippery Dick”) Connolly was kept in office and how it was done?” The article explained how Tweed’s (April 1870) Charter secretly cancelled the public’s right to elect their comptroller, and made Connolly unremovable by anybody before 1875.
After […]
“The Tammany Tiger Loose — What Are You Going to Do About It?”
Harper’s Weekly – November 11, 1871
Nast used the Tammany Tiger for his campaign climax, along with five other cartoons — occupying four-plus pages in total — in the post-dated November 11 Weekly, available six days before the election. However, his keynote tiger had to compete for attention with Mrs. O’Leary’s cow and the […]
“What Are You Laughing At? To the Victor Belong the Spoils”
Harper’s Weekly – November 25, 1871
“November 7, 1871 — The Tammany Ring Smashed — That’s what the people did about it — Sweeny gone to grass — Haul done brown — Gov. Hoffman’s veto power neutralized” were among the phrases Nast used in his cover cartoon which appeared eight days after the election […]
Something That Did Blow Over — November 7, 1871
Harper’s Weekly – November 25, 1871
Nast must have really enjoyed finalizing Mayor Oakey Hall’s memorable forecast after the first Times revelation in July: “This will all blow over.” Something That Did Blow Over featured the storm that destroyed Tammany Hall. Oakey hung from a teetering column with cash packets dropping from his pocket; […]
Can the Law Reach Him — The Dwarf and the Giant Thief
Harper’s Weekly – January 6, 1872
After Tweed resigned as Commissioner of Public Works on December 28, 1871, he faced criminal charges. The primary question on many lips was whether he could be convicted. Nast dramatized that in a full-page cartoon.
“Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make”
Harper’s Weekly – January 6, 1872
In the same issue that he posed the question of conviction as the New Year dawned, Nast — with premonition — raised the question of escape if Tweed actually was convicted.
Touchstone
Harper’s Weekly – January 6, 1872
Mayor Abraham Oakey Hall, or A. Oakey Hall as he signed himself, was the Ring’s advisor on most legislative and legal matters. Nast referred to him on occasion as “O.K. Haul.”
If Tweed had been able to elect John Hoffman as Governor in 1866, Hall would have succeeded him […]
The Last of the Four
Harper’s Weekly – January 13, 1872
Richard (Slippery Dick) Connolly went on leave after he appointed Andrew Green as his deputy in September. He formally resigned on November 18 and, to his surprise, was arrested on November 25 by Sheriff Matthew Brennan. Bail was set at $1 million, which he was prepared to meet. […]
“Et Tu, Brute? — Then Fall, Caesar”
Harper’s Weekly – January 27, 1872
Two months after Boss Tweed was beaten in the 1871 election, Nast depicted his frontman, Governor John Hoffman killing his proverbial father in a replay of French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Death of Caesar. He probably was stimulated by a current production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar with Edwin Booth […]
Tweed-Le-Dee and Tilden-Dum
Harper’s Weekly – July 1, 1876
The answers to Nast’s predictive security concerns were accurate over time. Tweed’s first trial was postponed for a year. Eighteen days after it started on January 13, 1873, a hung jury was dismissed; it was probable but never proved, that bribery played a role.
A second trial ended in […]
Another Whale — Jonah Case
Harper’s Weekly – October 7, 1876
Tweed spent three weeks in Spanish custody, after which he was returned to the United States aboard the Navy frigate U.S.S. Franklin, which departed Spain on September 27 and arrived in New York on November 23. While he was in transit, Nast celebrated with a pictorial pun featuring […]
Civil War
Contraband of War
Painting – 1867
Unhappy at Harper’s Weekly because of conflicts with editor George William Curtis, Nast left for a year (June 1867-8) to undertake the most entrepreneurial and potentially career-changing venture of his life. He believed that he could satisfy his passion for historical painting and his talent for caricature by combining them into […]
The Grand Peace Overture to “Our Wayward Sisters”
Phunny Phellow – August 1864
In July 1864, President Abraham Lincoln’s reelection chances looked dismal, primarily because the Civil War was dragging on in Georgia and Virginia. Northern morale was at a low. Within his cabinet, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair and, apparently, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton favored peace negotiations. Outside, New York publishers […]
Compromise with the South — Dedicated to the Chicago Convention
Harper’s Weekly – September 3, 1864
Lincoln’s prospects improved slightly on August 5, when Admiral David Farragut, lashed to the mast of his flagship, shouted “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” on his way to capturing Mobile Bay. That was the first in a triad of critical Union victories.
The Democratic National Convention was scheduled […]
The Rebel Terms of Peace!!
Campaign Poster
On October 16, 1864, the Richmond Enquirer published some new beyond-the-pale demands which were not in the platform at the Chicago convention. Among them were recognition of the Confederate States as an independent country; inclusion of three border states — Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland — in the Confederacy; and payment by the […]
Contraband of War
New York Illustrated News – June 15, 1861
When the Civil War began in April 1861 with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, Nast was working for the New York Illustrated News. Two months later, he depicted Major General Benjamin Butler holding one of the artist’s first Southern stereotyped villains at bay.
On May 22, 1861, […]
The Christmas Tree of the Federal Army
New York Illustrated News – January 4, 1862
Over the next quarter-century, Nast’s family-oriented Christmas drawings would become a Harper’s Weekly tradition. In 1861, however, his first Christmas tree had a double meaning: ten leading Confederate generals and politicians hanging as labeled ornaments. The musician (right) probably was a memorial tribute to the artist’s […]
Santa Claus in Camp
Harper’s Weekly – January 3, 1863
By the following Christmas, Nast had been working for Harper’s Weekly for five months.
The post-dated Christmas cover featured Santa Claus in Camp. Although Santa’s image had not yet evolved into the fat, jolly portrayal that Nast later made famous, it had a strong emotional impact on Harper’s readers.
In […]
Christmas Eve, 1862
Harper’s Weekly – January 3, 1863
In the same post-dated issue as Santa Claus in Camp, Christmas Eve, 1862 was a milestone in Nast’s early career. His sentimental allegory drew so much praise from the Harper brothers, as well as their public, that their young artist’s power to draw what and how he wanted […]
A Gallant Color-Bearer
Harper’s Weekly – September 20, 1862
This was the first of 404 covers that Nast created for Harper’s Weekly, drawn less than two months after he joined the publication. The accompanying text told the story of how a thrice-wounded New York soldier held on to his regiment’s flag even when unconscious, marking him as […]
The Chicago Platform (extract)
Harper’s Weekly – October 15, 1864
This is an extracted centerpiece from The Chicago Platform, Nast’s 20-vignette follow-up to Compromise with the South, and published a month before the 1864 election when George McClellan faced off against Lincoln.
Nast’s prize slap in the cartoon was at McClellan standing on board a ship covering his backside […]
The Rebel Army Crossing the Fords of the Potomac for the Invasion of Maryland
Harper’s Weekly – September 27, 1862
Antietam
On the night of September 4-5, 1862, General Robert E. Lee invaded Maryland en route to the Battle of Antietam. Alfred Waud painted an on-the-spot watercolor and sent his picture to Harper’s.
Nast built on Waud’s painting to evoke the drama of a gigantic rebel army stealthily crossing the […]
The Emancipation of the Negroes, January, 1863 The Past and the Future
Harper’s Weekly – January 24, 1863
Although the victory at Antietam was not decisive — as it could have been under a general like Ulysses Grant — it was still sufficient for Lincoln to proclaim that all slaves in states and/or territory within states controlled by the Confederacy would be emancipated on January 1, […]
A Negro Regiment in Action
Harper’s Weekly – March 14, 1863
Some of the first Black soldiers in the Union army were South Carolina Sea Island Negroes who were freed as contrabands in November 1861. The official report of a colonel of the First Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers (colored) praised their valor in various victories in interior Georgia […]
The Army of the Potomac — Drawing Rations
Harper’s Weekly – August 22, 1863
Nast had sixty-four drawings in Harper’s Weekly before the war concluded at Appomattox on April 9, 1865; of these, only two were true cartoons, both small and on the back page. All related to military, civilian or political aspects of the war. Fourteen battle scenarios and half […]
The Halt
Harper’s Weekly – October 1, 1864
As Black soldiers proved their worth in battle, Nast depicted their integration into military life, a step beyond emancipation. His last illustration of life in the Army — The Halt — showed a white officer with his arm around a Black helper at a pump. On the […]
Reveille in Camp — 5 a.m.
Harper’s Weekly – July 11, 1863
Unlike the Weekly’s principal frontline artists Alfred Waud and Theodore Davis, Winslow Homer and Nast created their illustrations in New York. Homer specialized in scenes of army life. During 1863, Nast drew his own impressions — some as pictures and others as topical vignettes.
Nast, who always enjoyed children, […]
The Drummer Boy of Our Regiment — Eight War Scenes
Harper’s Weekly – December 19, 1863
Perhaps the most famous drummer boy was Johnny Clem, who was allowed to join a Michigan Volunteer regiment in April 1861 as a nine-year old. In September 1863, he escaped capture at Chicamauga by shooting a Confederate officer; a month later he was seized, but released shortly afterwards. […]
John Morgan’s Highwaymen Sacking a Peaceful Village in the West
Harper’s Weekly – August 30, 1862
About a month before Nast joined Harper’s Weekly, two Confederate colonels (soon to be generals) — Nathan Bedford Forrest in Tennessee and John Morgan in Kentucky — with commands of 800 to 1,000 men each — conducted devastating guerilla raids against troops under the control of Union General […]
After the Battle — The Rebels in Possession of the Field
Harper’s Weekly – October 25, 1862
Nast’s next negative illustration referred to the aftermath of the Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run, which occurred two months earlier. A letter to the New York Times, reprinted in the Weekly, described the scene two miles from Centerville, the site of First Bull Run […]
Historic Examples of Southern Chivalry
Harper’s Weekly – February 7, 1863
Nast’s 16 negative depictions of Confederate atrocities during the Civil War were an important factor in energizing Union public opinion, and leading Lincoln to call him “his best recruiting sergeant.” Southern Chivalry was Nast’s most vicious atrocity pictorial, reprising scenes from the War’s commencement — some of which […]
The Prisoners at Richmond — Union Troops Prisoners at Belle Isle
Harper’s Weekly – December 5, 1863
With the South suffering from shortages of all kinds by 1863, Union captives usually were almost starved, stripped of most of their clothing and valuables, given no blankets, and provided little or no shelter from the heat, cold and humidity. Most of the Union prisoners were sent to […]
The Chicago Platform (extract)
Harper’s Weekly – October 15, 1864
After Blacks began fighting for the Union and were captured, Jefferson Davis refused to exchange them, especially former slaves. Lincoln took a firm stand on principle and all exchanges stopped. In a satirical vignette in The Chicago Platform, a critically important 1864 pre-election cartoon, Nast showed a Union […]
The Ogre of Andersonville
Painting – 1867
Nast never depicted Georgia’s Andersonville Prison during the course of the war. Unhappy at Harper’s Weekly because of conflicts with his editor, George William Curtis, Nast left for a year at the end of May 1867. He spent the next six months creating a moving panorama consisting of 33 nine-by-twelve foot […]
The Hero of Gettysburg
Phunny Phellow – August 1863
Gettysburg
In contrast to his serious, solemn and often grim Civil War illustrations in Harper’s Weekly — almost all of which were signed — Nast had a platform in Phunny Phellow where he could be unrestrained, even boisterous — and anonymous. From 1859 until 1873 (when he signed an exclusivity […]
The Press on the Field
Harper’s Weekly – April 30 1864
While devastating to the country as a whole, the Civil War provided a tremendous boost to the newspaper business in general and to the illustrated press in particular. Radio was a half century away and photography was limited to still pictures. (Photographers needed wagons, chemicals, special apparatus, long […]
How the Copperheads Obtain Their Votes
Harper’s Weekly – November 12, 1864
This post-dated cartoon was available to Harper’s readers six days before the upcoming Presidential election on November 8. The cover story described forging of military votes, including accounts of Copperheads — Confederate sympathizers in the North — copying the names of dead Union soldiers from their graves and […]
The Union Christmas Dinner
Harper’s Weekly – December 31, 1864
Of the 42 cartoons relating to Christmas that Thomas Nast drew for Harper’s Weekly, The Union Christmas Dinner probably had the least to do with the holiday and the most to do with politics. Its allegorical political message was twofold: overtly, Sectional Reconciliation; more subtly but equally important, […]
Uncle Sam’s Rat Trap
Phunny Phellow – May 1865
Nast drew this cartoon in late March or early April, 1865, for the post-dated May issue of Phunny Phellow. Robert E. Lee was trapped in the cage, handing his sword to General Ulysses Grant who had besieged him in Petersburg, VA for ten months. Left to right, the other […]
President Lincoln Entering Richmond, April 4, 1865
Harper’s Weekly – February 24, 1866
April 2, 1865 saw the successful end of the ten-month siege of Petersburg, the gateway to Richmond, as Grant completed his encirclement of the city. Lee evacuated Petersburg late that night.
While in church on that same disastrous Sunday morning, Davis received an urgent message from Lee, to get […]
Palm Sunday
Harper’s Weekly – May 20, 1865
Following the evacuation of Richmond, General Robert E. Lee continued to suffer losses. After an exchange of correspondence with Grant, Lee surrendered to him on Sunday, April 9 in the home of Wilmer McLean in Appomattox Court House (the name of the village).
There were no reporters, artists or […]
Peace in Union
Painting – 1895
On April 9, 1895 — exactly 30 years after Appomattox and almost ten years after Grant died — Nast completed Peace In Union, a nine-by-twelve foot picture of the participants and witnesses at the surrender. The picture had been commissioned the previous year by Herman Kohlsaat, a wealthy Chicago entrepreneur and […]
The Capture of Jeff Davis of the C.S.A.
Phunny Phellow– July 1865
Of the many villains on Nast’s lifetime list, Jeff Davis probably ranked first. He hated and despised Davis as a cowardly traitor who should have been tried, convicted and hanged for treason. Davis, a year younger than Lincoln, was a West Point graduate who after serving in the Mexican War, […]
Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s Voyage of Life
Harper’s Weekly – October 7, 1871
During Nast’s era, William Shakespeare’s plays were an inherent part of the school curriculum. In addition to reading and writing, Shakespeare was used to help teach history, civics, elocution and ethics. Even relatively uneducated people were attracted to Shakespearean theatre after their […]
The Immortal Light of Genius
Painting – 1896
On a trip to London in 1894, Nast received a commission from his English friend Henry Irving, the greatest Shakespearean actor and producer of the past quarter-century. Irving, who would be knighted a year later, and Nast knew each other well from their previous trans-Atlantic […]
Altered Condition of Affairs
New York Illustrated News – November 11, 1861
In November 1861, Nast’s cartoon on the subject of European funding for the South featured Jeff Davis trying to sell Confederate bonds collateralized by cotton. Nast used Shakespeare’s Henry IV (Part I): “I can call spirits from the vasty deep” said Glendower to Hotspur; “Why so […]
The Guilty Conscience; or, Who’s that Knocking at the Door?
Phunny Phellow– July 1865
Nast’s cartoon referred to the Alabama Claims controversy. The Confederate ship Alabama was illegally constructed (in violation of neutrality) in Liverpool and resupplied in France. Commanded by Confederate Admiral Raphael Semmes, it captured 63 Union ships between September 1862 and June 1864, when it was sunk by the USS Kearsarge […]
Not “Love,” But Justice
Harper’s Weekly – June 26, 1869
Brother Jonathan was a British-originated symbol for America — used by both English and American cartoonists — who generally interacted with John Bull, the symbol for England. However, Nast only used him once in his 25 years there, and then in an unorthodox manner.
In the spring of 1869, […]
“What a Fall Was There My Countrymen!”
Never-published Woodblock – March 1868
President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment charges were received in the Senate on March 4, 1868, but his actual trial didn’t begin until March 30. Nast had gone to Washington in mid-March hopping to see the proceedings, and drew this anticipatory never-published satire entitled What a Fall Was There My Countrymen; […]
Scene After the Verdict of Acquital
Illustrated Chicago News – May 1, 1868
This cartoon was published in the second issue of the short-lived Illustrated Chicago News. The paper had recruited Nast to become its political cartoonist, but didn’t make it past its eighth issue. After Andrew Johnson (King Andy) was acquitted, Nast depicted Senator Ben Wade offering the President […]
The Democratic Convention, New York, July 9th, 1868, Decline A.J. with Thanks
Harper’s Weekly – July 25, 1868
After his acquittal and for the rest of his term, Johnson let military reconstruction proceed under General Grant without making waves. Nast depicted him being rejected by the Democratic Party when — his hobby horse destroyed — King Andy uttered the famous last words of Shakespeare’s Richard III […]
“Farewell, a Long Farewell, to All My Greatness!”
Harper’s Weekly – March 13, 1869
When his term ended, President Andrew Johnson went home to Greeneville, Tennessee after refusing to attend President Ulysses Grant’s Inauguration. Nast turned to Shakespeare once again for King Andy’s “Farewell, a Long Farewell to All My Greatness!” Cardinal Wolsey spoke the line on learning of his dismissal by […]
The “Liberal” Conspirators (Who, You All Know, Are Honorable Men)
Harper’s Weekly – March 16, 1872
Ulysses Grant was Thomas Nast’s all-time hero, appearing in more than 100 cartoons; only one — dealing with a scandalous appointment — was negative. After Nast’s dominant role in bringing down Boss Tweed, Grant and his key associates recruited Nast for his 1872 reelection campaign.
A group of five […]
A Few Washington Sketches — In the Senate
Harper’s Weekly – March 23, 1872
Senator Lyman Trumbull (IL) was Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In 1871, he and Senator Carl Schurz had created a tempest in a teapot by charging that the government violated its neutrality toward Prussia by selling small arms to France during the previous year’s Franco-Prussian War. Senator […]
United States Senate Theatre
Harper’s Weekly – March 30, 1872
Nast detested Carl Schurz even more than Horace Greeley, and attacked him about 60 times during Grant’s presidency. At their first meeting in Washington in early 1869 when Schurz was a brand new Senator, they conversed in German. Schurz compared the American government unfavorably with Germany’s, ending with […]
Not So Easily Played Upon
Harper’s Weekly – April 27, 1872
Schurz’s long legs were his primary exaggerated feature for the caricaturist. Another attribute that Nast frequently “played to” was his musical talent, usually on the piano. Both before and after the Cincinnati Convention that nominated Greeley, he directly accused Schurz of lying about the French Arms controversy among […]
A Step in the Right Direction
Harper’s Weekly – June 6, 1874
Earlier in 1874, as two conflicting factions competed for state control of Reconstruction in Arkansas, Grant stepped in by backing the elected Republican — a former slaveholder and Union Army veteran — who re-enfranchised ex-Confederates among other actions. Many of his backers then switched to a carpetbagger supported […]
“Where There Is an Evil” (Caesarism Scare) “There Is a Remedy” — (Ridicule)
Harper’s Weekly – November 8, 1873
Nast’s target in this cartoon was James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the wealthy, conceited, autocratic editor of the Herald. Junior was only 25 in 1867 when he inherited control of the paper from his crusty, almost friendless father. Both men lived in the family mansion, and Senior counseled Junior […]
“How Many Times Shall Caesar Bleed in Sport”
Harper’s Weekly – November 21, 1874
This cover cartoon depicted a Shakespearean scene from Julius Caesar featuring James Gordon Bennett, Jr. (Herald) and Whitelaw Reid (Tribune) with their broken pens and spilled ink displaying “The end of Grantism” and “Caesarism is Dead.”
“Upon What Meat Doth This Our Caesar Feed That He Hath Grown So Great?”
Harper’s Weekly – December 5, 1874
Perhaps Nast’s best Caesarism cartoon was timed to appear at Thanksgiving, as he feasted on puns. Once again, he went to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (Act I), quoting the negative question from Cassius.
Emperor Ulysses Grant presided at a White House “Editorial Banquet,” carving Bennett’s “Intelligence Department” brain (Tete de […]
A Moonshine Scene
Harper’s Weekly – March 27, 1875
The specter of Caesarism disappeared on May 29, 1875, when Grant wrote a long letter denying that he had any intention of seeking a third term. The Weekly published Grant’s complete text underneath the cartoon.
The President was tired and discouraged by the continuing economic depression, scandals and Southern […]
Can He?
Harper’s Weekly – February 23, 1878
In 1878, Nast punned by using Bottom the Weaver, the Ass from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to represent the Greenback Party, which had organized two years earlier. James Weaver, a former Republican, was a prominent promoter; he was elected to Congress from Iowa in 1878 and received […]
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Nomination
Harper’s Weekly – July 3, 1880
In 1880, the Democratic platform called for hard money, a position that Nast had always endorsed. In protest, the inflationist Greenback Party nominated Iowa Congressman James Weaver as its third-party candidate. He ended up winning almost three percent of the popular vote after being the first Presidential candidate […]
An Appeal to Marble
Harper’s Weekly – October 26, 1878
In 1876, the winner of the election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden could not be decided until the 19 electoral votes of four contested states — Louisiana (8), South Carolina (7), Florida (3) and Oregon (1) — were determined. If Tilden received just […]
Senator Tweed in a New Role
Harper’s Weekly – April 26, 1870
New York had both a city and an overlapping county government, providing duplicate opportunities for patronage and graft. The Common Council/Aldermen (“Forty Thieves”) prepared the City budget, while the Board of Supervisors prepared the County budget. Each body could levy taxes and issue bonds. Some individuals worked for […]
Our Modern Falstaff Reviewing His Army
Harper’s Weekly – November 5, 1870
The Irish support for the Tweed Ring peaked on Election Day when they were to vote illegally in as many election districts as possible, using false identifications and addresses — taverns, brothels and vacant lots included. In 1870, Mayor Oakey Hall created additional election districts to make repeat […]
“Et Tu, Brute? — Then Fall, Caesar”
Harper’s Weekly – January 27, 1872
Two months after Boss Tweed was beaten in the 1871 election, Nast depicted his frontman, Governor John Hoffman killing his proverbial father in a replay of French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Death of Caesar. He probably was stimulated by a current production of Shakespeare’s […]
Touchstone
Harper’s Weekly – January 6, 1872
Mayor Abraham Oakey Hall, or A. Oakey Hall as he signed himself, was the Ring’s advisor on most legislative and legal matters. Nast referred to him on occasion as “O.K. Haul.”
If Tweed had been able to elect John Hoffman as Governor in 1866, […]
Symbols
Shakespeare’s Voyage of Life
Harper’s Weekly – October 7, 1871
During Nast’s era, William Shakespeare’s plays were an inherent part of the school curriculum. In addition to reading and writing, Shakespeare was used to help teach history, civics, elocution and ethics. Even relatively uneducated people were attracted to Shakespearean theatre after their […]
The Immortal Light of Genius
Painting – 1896
On a trip to London in 1894, Nast received a commission from his English friend Henry Irving, the greatest Shakespearean actor and producer of the past quarter-century. Irving, who would be knighted a year later, and Nast knew each other well from their previous trans-Atlantic […]
Altered Condition of Affairs
New York Illustrated News – November 11, 1861
In November 1861, Nast’s cartoon on the subject of European funding for the South featured Jeff Davis trying to sell Confederate bonds collateralized by cotton. Nast used Shakespeare’s Henry IV (Part I): “I can call spirits from the vasty deep” said Glendower to Hotspur; “Why so […]
The Guilty Conscience; or, Who’s that Knocking at the Door?
Phunny Phellow– July 1865
Nast’s cartoon referred to the Alabama Claims controversy. The Confederate ship Alabama was illegally constructed (in violation of neutrality) in Liverpool and resupplied in France. Commanded by Confederate Admiral Raphael Semmes, it captured 63 Union ships between September 1862 and June 1864, when it was sunk by the USS Kearsarge […]
Not “Love,” But Justice
Harper’s Weekly – June 26, 1869
Brother Jonathan was a British-originated symbol for America — used by both English and American cartoonists — who generally interacted with John Bull, the symbol for England. However, Nast only used him once in his 25 years there, and then in an unorthodox manner.
In the spring of 1869, […]
“What a Fall Was There My Countrymen!”
Never-published Woodblock – March 1868
President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment charges were received in the Senate on March 4, 1868, but his actual trial didn’t begin until March 30. Nast had gone to Washington in mid-March hopping to see the proceedings, and drew this anticipatory never-published satire entitled What a Fall Was There My Countrymen; […]
Scene After the Verdict of Acquital
Illustrated Chicago News – May 1, 1868
This cartoon was published in the second issue of the short-lived Illustrated Chicago News. The paper had recruited Nast to become its political cartoonist, but didn’t make it past its eighth issue. After Andrew Johnson (King Andy) was acquitted, Nast depicted Senator Ben Wade offering the President […]
The Democratic Convention, New York, July 9th, 1868, Decline A.J. with Thanks
Harper’s Weekly – July 25, 1868
After his acquittal and for the rest of his term, Johnson let military reconstruction proceed under General Grant without making waves. Nast depicted him being rejected by the Democratic Party when — his hobby horse destroyed — King Andy uttered the famous last words of Shakespeare’s Richard III […]
“Farewell, a Long Farewell, to All My Greatness!”
Harper’s Weekly – March 13, 1869
When his term ended, President Andrew Johnson went home to Greeneville, Tennessee after refusing to attend President Ulysses Grant’s Inauguration. Nast turned to Shakespeare once again for King Andy’s “Farewell, a Long Farewell to All My Greatness!” Cardinal Wolsey spoke the line on learning of his dismissal by […]
The “Liberal” Conspirators (Who, You All Know, Are Honorable Men)
Harper’s Weekly – March 16, 1872
Ulysses Grant was Thomas Nast’s all-time hero, appearing in more than 100 cartoons; only one — dealing with a scandalous appointment — was negative. After Nast’s dominant role in bringing down Boss Tweed, Grant and his key associates recruited Nast for his 1872 reelection campaign.
A group of five […]
A Few Washington Sketches — In the Senate
Harper’s Weekly – March 23, 1872
Senator Lyman Trumbull (IL) was Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In 1871, he and Senator Carl Schurz had created a tempest in a teapot by charging that the government violated its neutrality toward Prussia by selling small arms to France during the previous year’s Franco-Prussian War. Senator […]
United States Senate Theatre
Harper’s Weekly – March 30, 1872
Nast detested Carl Schurz even more than Horace Greeley, and attacked him about 60 times during Grant’s presidency. At their first meeting in Washington in early 1869 when Schurz was a brand new Senator, they conversed in German. Schurz compared the American government unfavorably with Germany’s, ending with […]
Not So Easily Played Upon
Harper’s Weekly – April 27, 1872
Schurz’s long legs were his primary exaggerated feature for the caricaturist. Another attribute that Nast frequently “played to” was his musical talent, usually on the piano. Both before and after the Cincinnati Convention that nominated Greeley, he directly accused Schurz of lying about the French Arms controversy among […]
A Step in the Right Direction
Harper’s Weekly – June 6, 1874
Earlier in 1874, as two conflicting factions competed for state control of Reconstruction in Arkansas, Grant stepped in by backing the elected Republican — a former slaveholder and Union Army veteran — who re-enfranchised ex-Confederates among other actions. Many of his backers then switched to a carpetbagger supported […]
“Where There Is an Evil” (Caesarism Scare) “There Is a Remedy” — (Ridicule)
Harper’s Weekly – November 8, 1873
Nast’s target in this cartoon was James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the wealthy, conceited, autocratic editor of the Herald. Junior was only 25 in 1867 when he inherited control of the paper from his crusty, almost friendless father. Both men lived in the family mansion, and Senior counseled Junior […]
“How Many Times Shall Caesar Bleed in Sport”
Harper’s Weekly – November 21, 1874
This cover cartoon depicted a Shakespearean scene from Julius Caesar featuring James Gordon Bennett, Jr. (Herald) and Whitelaw Reid (Tribune) with their broken pens and spilled ink displaying “The end of Grantism” and “Caesarism is Dead.”
“Upon What Meat Doth This Our Caesar Feed That He Hath Grown So Great?”
Harper’s Weekly – December 5, 1874
Perhaps Nast’s best Caesarism cartoon was timed to appear at Thanksgiving, as he feasted on puns. Once again, he went to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (Act I), quoting the negative question from Cassius.
Emperor Ulysses Grant presided at a White House “Editorial Banquet,” carving Bennett’s “Intelligence Department” brain (Tete de […]
A Moonshine Scene
Harper’s Weekly – March 27, 1875
The specter of Caesarism disappeared on May 29, 1875, when Grant wrote a long letter denying that he had any intention of seeking a third term. The Weekly published Grant’s complete text underneath the cartoon.
The President was tired and discouraged by the continuing economic depression, scandals and Southern […]
Can He?
Harper’s Weekly – February 23, 1878
In 1878, Nast punned by using Bottom the Weaver, the Ass from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to represent the Greenback Party, which had organized two years earlier. James Weaver, a former Republican, was a prominent promoter; he was elected to Congress from Iowa in 1878 and received […]
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Nomination
Harper’s Weekly – July 3, 1880
In 1880, the Democratic platform called for hard money, a position that Nast had always endorsed. In protest, the inflationist Greenback Party nominated Iowa Congressman James Weaver as its third-party candidate. He ended up winning almost three percent of the popular vote after being the first Presidential candidate […]
An Appeal to Marble
Harper’s Weekly – October 26, 1878
In 1876, the winner of the election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden could not be decided until the 19 electoral votes of four contested states — Louisiana (8), South Carolina (7), Florida (3) and Oregon (1) — were determined. If Tilden received just […]
Senator Tweed in a New Role
Harper’s Weekly – April 26, 1870
New York had both a city and an overlapping county government, providing duplicate opportunities for patronage and graft. The Common Council/Aldermen (“Forty Thieves”) prepared the City budget, while the Board of Supervisors prepared the County budget. Each body could levy taxes and issue bonds. Some individuals worked for […]
Our Modern Falstaff Reviewing His Army
Harper’s Weekly – November 5, 1870
The Irish support for the Tweed Ring peaked on Election Day when they were to vote illegally in as many election districts as possible, using false identifications and addresses — taverns, brothels and vacant lots included. In 1870, Mayor Oakey Hall created additional election districts to make repeat […]
“Et Tu, Brute? — Then Fall, Caesar”
Harper’s Weekly – January 27, 1872
Two months after Boss Tweed was beaten in the 1871 election, Nast depicted his frontman, Governor John Hoffman killing his proverbial father in a replay of French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Death of Caesar. He probably was stimulated by a current production of Shakespeare’s […]
Touchstone
Harper’s Weekly – January 6, 1872
Mayor Abraham Oakey Hall, or A. Oakey Hall as he signed himself, was the Ring’s advisor on most legislative and legal matters. Nast referred to him on occasion as “O.K. Haul.”
If Tweed had been able to elect John Hoffman as Governor in 1866, […]
Lincoln
Latest Portrait of Mr. Lincoln
New York Illustrated News– March 2, 1861
The day before his fifty-second birthday, Lincoln and his family left Springfield on a twelve-day trip to Washington. The train made numerous stops where Lincoln gave short non-controversial speeches, attended lunches or dinners, and sometimes spent the night in a hotel.
Between Cleveland and Buffalo, the train made […]
Arrival of Mr. Lincoln at the Camden Station, Baltimore, at 4 o’clock on the Morning of February 23
New York Illustrated News – March 9, 1861
After Philadelphia, the next scheduled stops for Lincoln’s train were Harrisburg and Baltimore. While in Philadelphia, Lincoln received word from two different credible sources that there was a plot to kill him in Baltimore the next day. The plan was to create a disturbance in the […]
Mr. Lincoln as He Appeared in the House of Representatives, on the Republican Side
New York Illustrated News – March 16, 1861
Nast stayed at the Willard Hotel, then Washington’s residence of choice, along with the Lincolns and a host of other celebrities. He drew a couple of humorous sketches showing the tight sleeping arrangements, as well as the never-ending action in the lobby.
On February 25, two days […]
Arrival of Mr. Lincoln at the Capitol, Arm in Arm with Mr. Buchanan
New York Illustrated News – March 9, 1861
When Inauguration Day arrived on March 4, Nast was there to record the event.
Mr. Lincoln Taking the Oath of Office in the Front of the Capitol
New York Illustrated News – March 16, 1861
Nast’s cover illustration of the Inauguration was a disaster, featuring a supposed image of Chief Justice Roger Taney administering the oath of office to Lincoln. Taney was two weeks shy of his 84th birthday, and the man in the picture looked to be in his […]
The Grand Peace Overture to “Our Wayward Sisters”
Phunny Phellow – August 1864
In July 1864, President Abraham Lincoln’s reelection chances looked dismal, primarily because the Civil War was dragging on in Georgia and Virginia. Northern morale was at a low. Within his cabinet, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair and, apparently, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton favored peace negotiations. Outside, New York publishers […]
The Emancipation of the Negroes, January, 1863 the Past and the Future
Harper’s Weekly – January 24, 1863
Although the victory at Antietam was not decisive — as it could have been under a general like Ulysses Grant — it was still sufficient for Lincoln to proclaim that all slaves in states and/or territory within states controlled by the Confederacy would be emancipated on January 1, […]
The Union Christmas Dinner
Harper’s Weekly – December 31, 1864
Of the 42 cartoons relating to Christmas that Thomas Nast drew for Harper’s Weekly, The Union Christmas Dinner probably had the least to do with the holiday and the most to do with politics. Its allegorical political message was twofold: overtly, Sectional Reconciliation; more subtly but equally important, […]
President Lincoln Entering Richmond, April 4, 1865
Harper’s Weekly – February 24, 1866
April 2, 1865 saw the successful end of the ten-month siege of Petersburg, the gateway to Richmond, as General Ulysses Grant completed his encirclement of the city. Robert E. Lee evacuated Petersburg late that night.
While in church on that same disastrous Sunday morning, Jefferson Davis received an urgent […]
Palm Sunday
Harper’s Weekly – May 20, 1865
The first half of April 1865 was dominated by two “A” news events — Appomattox and Assassination — separated by only five days. The second story so overwhelmed the first that neither Harper’s Weekly or Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper gave General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to General Ulysses Grant […]
Abraham Lincoln and the Drummer-Boy
Harper’s Weekly – April 27, 1867
Nast waited two years to draw his last picture of Lincoln as a real person, timing it for the second anniversary of his death. On its cover page, the Weekly quoted an incident taken from Six Months at the White House, a book of reminiscences about the President […]
Inflation
By Inflation You Will Burst
Harper’s Weekly – December 20, 1873
The Civil War had been financed with $400 million of paper money (called greenbacks because of their green ink) in addition to gold and silver (known as specie). Beginning in 1865, Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch redeemed $44 million […]
Benjamin Butler
Harper’s Weekly – April 11, 1874, May 8, 1874, May 16 1874 (extracts)
President Ulysses Grant was in the middle on inflation. Remembering his first-hand experience as a farmer and a tanner, he could empathize with failing Western growers and manufacturers. With the President’s approval, Treasury Secretary William Richardson had increased the money supply […]
A General Blow Up – Dead Asses Kicking a Live Lion
Harper’s Weekly – May 16, 1874
It took political courage to veto the Inflation Bill, so Nast’s depiction of President Ulysses Grant as a lion was apt. The Fine-Ass Committee of Grant’s mid-Western Republican opponents — Congressmen Ben Butler (MA) and William (“Pig Iron”) Kelley (PA), and Senators […]
“Peevish School-boys, Worthless of Such Honor”
Harper’s Weekly – June 6, 1874
Three weeks after lionizing President Grant for vetoing the Inflation Bill, Nast — in an unusual move — derided its Republican Senatorial sponsors who had been sharply vritical of him for criticizing them. The opposition press described Nast’s cartoon as “Brutal,” “Disgusting” and “Degrading.” One of the signs […]
“To This We Should Return with the Least Practicable Delay.” — U.S. Grant
Harper’s Weekly – January 9, 1875
Benjamin Bristow became Treasury Secretary in June 1874. He worked closely with Ohio Senator John Sherman to craft the Specie Payment Resumption Act which would allow greenbacks to be redeemed for gold. Grant called for its approval in his December message to Congress, and it passed on January […]
“Hush-a-bye (Rag) Baby, Be Still!”
Harper’s Weekly – February 12, 1876
As President Grant began his last full year in office, inflation was under control, and the Rag Baby was asleep on the Congressional shelf.
Hen(dricks)-pecked
Harper’s Weekly – August 5, 1876
After the Democratic Party nominate Samuel Tilden, a firm believer in hard money (specie), for President in 1876, an anti-Tilden group engineered Thomas Hendricks, a soft-money politician from Indiana, on to theh ticket as his running mate.
In this cartoon, Hen(dricks)-Pecked, Father Tilden fed the Rag Baby “Democratic Platform […]
A Hard Summer for the Soft Rag Baby
Harper’s Weekly – December 29, 1866
Three weeks later, the inebriated Rag Baby thumbed his nose as Mother Hendricks happily watched. Father Tilden had fed it “High Bock Beer” when “Congress Water” didn’t work.
The Elastic Democratic (Deformed) Tiger
Harper’s Weekly – August 5, 1876
Indiana Governor Thomas Hendricks, the runner-up to Samuel Tilden, reluctantly accepted the Vice Presidential slot on the ticket. The two men had a major policy difference — hard vs. soft money. Tilden had always been a specie (gold and silver coinage) supporter, but Hendricks, with a large agricultural […]
“Ideal Money”
Harper’s Weekly – January 19, 1878
Henry Watterson, the influential Democratic editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, was a longtime personal friend and political target of Nast. They clashed over inflation among many other issues.
In early 1878, Watterson editorialized in his paper that voters could decree that even soft-soap money could be used as currency […]
Can He?
Harper’s Weekly – February 23, 1878
Nast was not a fan of Republican President Rutherford Hayes who succeeded his idol, Ulysses Grant, in the White House. Hayes had reversed Grant’s policies by removing Federal troops from the Reconstructed Southern States and enabling ex-Confederates to control their state governments.
The money question was of prime importance […]
Dance to Your Daddy
Harper’s Weekly – March 16, 1878
President Ulysses Grant tried to put the money question to bed when he vetoed the Inflation Bill (relating to greenbacks) in 1874, and signed the Resumption Act (relating to gold) in January 1875; it was scheduled to become operative four years later, in the middle of Rutherford Hayes’s […]
The First Step Toward National Bankruptcy
Harper’s Weekly – February 16, 1878
After President Rutherford Hayes took office, his principal monetary opponent — and Nast’s primary target — was Stanley Matthews, Ohio’s junior Senator and fellow Republican. After Hayes appointed Senator John Sherman, another Ohio friend, as Treasury Secretary, the Ohio legislature — with the President’s blessing — chose Matthews […]
The Sooner the Better
Harper’s Weekly – December 14, 1878
As over-valued silver piled up in the Treasury, it didn’t circulate like gold. On occasion, Nast expanded his use of the silver trap by portraying it as the cause of inflation via Uncle Sam’s increasingly swollen leg. He updated Uncle Sam’s condition towards the end of each year.
Just […]
Resumption (?)
Harper’s Weekly – November 29, 1879
A year later, the swelling was much larger as Uncle Sam pleaded with Treasury Secretary Sherman to do something about the silver situation.
Doctors Differ
Harper’s Weekly – December 25, 1880
After President Rutherford Hayes became a lame duck in 1880, an almost unrecognizable Uncle Sam had his leg inflated to the point where he couldn’t even get out of bed. Nast noted that “silver (political money) goes into the U.S. Treasury and stays there” — with no circulation […]
Presidential Election Losers
Governor Seymour’s Speech to the New York Rioters
Harper’s Weekly – October 31, 1868
In 1868, Democrat Horatio Seymour ran for President against Nast’s idolized hero, General Ulysses S. Grant. The unshown left half of this cartoon featured a full-length illustration of Grant. Above him was “Let Us Have Peace,” his campaign slogan. Below was his […]
“Something that Will Blow Over”
Harper’s Weekly – June 15, 1872
When Nast’s idol, Ulysses Grant, ran for a second term in 1872, his unexpected opponent was Horace Greeley, publisher of the New York Tribune. Greeley was the candidate of the anti-Grant (but still Republican) Liberal Party, and ultimately […]
What I Know About Horace Greeley
Harper’s Weekly – January 20, 1872
Horace Greeley had owned a 75-acre farm near Chappaqua, 35 miles north of New York City, since 1853. In 1870, he published a book entitled What I Know of Farming. The title was Nast’s springboard. He drew “What I Know About . . .” papers sticking out of […]
The Cincinnati Convention, in a Pickwickian Sense
Harper’s Weekly – April 13, 1872
Greeley was nominated on May 21, 1872 at a convention in Cincinnati. About a month before the convention, Nast depicted it in a classic scene from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens; he was about to illustrate that novel for Harper & Bros. and also had used short […]
Barnum’s New “What Is It”
Harper’s Weekly – August 17, 1872
This cartoon featured all three of Nast’s symbols: Gratz Brown’s tag on Horace Greeley’s white coat, and the paper sticking out of his pocket which read “What I Know About Myself.”
During the campaign, Nast took occasional pot shots at Greeley for his consistent inconsistency. Using Greeley’s close friendship […]
Any Thing to Get In
Harper’s Weekly – August 10, 1872
One of Nast’s more imaginative Democratic Party-takeover cartoons featured Horace Greeley as a Trojan horse — with Gratz Brown as his tail and Carl Schurz as his coachman — outside the walled and moated fortress defending Washington. The Ku Klux Klan was climbing aboard, ready to open the […]
Apollo Amusing the Gods (extract)
Harper’s Weekly – November 16, 1872
Nast portrayed Horace Greeley’s Vice-Presidential candidate, Gratz Brown, as a tag or animal tail about ten times as often as he depicted him as a man.
At a Yale commencement dinner earlier that summer, Brown reportedly got so drunk that he buttered his watermelon. In a post-election cartoon with […]
“We Are on the Home Stretch.” — New York Tribune, October 9, 1872
Harper’s Weekly – November 2, 1872
As the campaign headed into its final weeks, Nast used the home stretch as a theme for three successive issues. Its origin went back to an optimistic editorial which Whitelaw Reid published in the Tribune following Democratic losses in bellwether state elections on October 8: “Friends, we are […]
A Tammany Rat
Harper’s Weekly – November 7, 1874
Samuel Jones Tilden, 62, the Democratic candidate for President in 1876, was smart, knowledgeable about business, and a canny but devious politician. As perhaps the most eminent railroad lawyer in the country prior to the Civil War, he became wealthy and owned a comfortable home in New York […]
Slippery Sam
Harper’s Weekly – August 12, 1876
In February 1875, a month after his inauguration as Governor of New York, Samuel Tilden suffered a stroke which distorted his countenance. Until he became a likely presidential candidate a year later, Nast harpooned him without showing the effects of his malady.
Nast’s change in portrayal probably came from […]
The Elastic Democratic (Deformed) Tiger
Harper’s Weekly – August 5, 1876
Indiana Governor Thomas Hendricks, the runner-up to Samuel Tilden, reluctantly accepted the Vice Presidential slot on the ticket. The two men had a major policy difference — hard vs. soft money. Tilden had always been a specie (gold and silver coinage) supporter, but Hendricks, with a large agricultural […]
Embalmed — That They May Keep until 1880 — or Longer
Harper’s Weekly – July 7, 1877
In 1876, the winner of the November 7, 1876 election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden could not be decided until the 19 electoral votes of four contested states — Louisiana (8), South Carolina (7), Florida (3) and Oregon (1) — were determined. If Tilden […]
Cipher Mumm(er)y
Harper’s Weekly – November 2, 1878
The winner of the November 7, 1876 election between Republican Rutherford Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden could not be decided until the 19 electoral votes of four contested states — Louisiana (8), South Carolina (7), Florida (3) and Oregon (1) — were determined. If Tilden received just one […]
The “Magnetic” Blaine; or, a Very Heavy “Load”-stone for the Republican Party to Carry
Harper’s Weekly – May 8, 1880
James Blaine tried to win the Republican nomination for the Presidency in three successive elections: 1876, 1880 and 1884. His stature and power emanated from Congress, where he served as Speaker of the House (1869-1875) and Senator from Maine (1878-1881). He failed to achieve his goal in his […]
“The Plumed Knight”
Harper’s Weekly – June 5, 1880
During his nominating speech for James Blaine at the 1876 Convention, renowned Illinois orator Robert Ingersoll likened him to “an armed warrior, a plumed knight, marching down the halls of Congress and throwing his shining lance . . . against the brazen forehead of every traitor to his […]
Too Heavy to Carry
Harper’s Weekly – June 14, 1884
In 1884, James Blaine finally won the Republican nomination on the fourth ballot, beating President Chester Arthur whom Nast favored for a second term. (He had succeeded James Garfield who was assassinated in 1881). Nast, the Harpers, and The New York Times refused to back Blaine and supported […]
Brazening It Out
Harper’s Weekly – September 27, 1884
Blaine was proud of his Congressional achievements. He was elected to the House in 1863, served three terms as speaker (1869-1875), and became a Senator late in 1876. In 1881, he served briefly as James Garfield’s Secretary of State, where he was involved in another scandal involving a […]
The “Great American” Game of Public Office for Private Gain
Harper’s Weekly – August 9, 1884
One of the key planks in James Blaine’s 1884 campaign was Protection — high tariffs to protect working men and farmers against free trade. Nast disagreed. Here, he utilized three of his symbols to ridicule Blaine and make his point.
The Plumed Knight was on his hobby horse (symbolizing […]