Andrew Jackson Editorial Cartoons
Complete Explanation:
A satire on Andrew Jackson's campaign to destroy the Bank of the United States and its support among state banks. Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and Jack Downing struggle against a snake with heads representing the states. Jackson (on the left) raises a cane marked "Veto" and says, "Biddle thou Monster Avaunt!! avaount I say! or by the Great Eternal I'll cleave thee to the earth, aye thee and thy four and twenty satellites. Matty if thou art true...come on. if thou art false, may the venomous monster turn his dire fang upon thee..."
Van Buren: "Well done General, Major Jack Downing, Adams, Clay, well done all. I dislike dissentions beyond every thing, for it often compels a man to play a double part, were it only for his own safety. Policy, policy is my motto, but intrigues I cannot countenance."
Downing (dropping his axe): "Now now you nasty varmint, be you imperishable? I swan Gineral that are beats all I reckon, that's the horrible wiper wot wommits wenemous heads I guess..."
The largest of the heads is president of the Bank Nicholas Biddle's, which wears a top hat labeled "Penn" (i.e. Pennsylvania) and "{dollar}35,000,000." This refers to the rechartering of the Bank by the Pennsylvania legislature in defiance of the adminstration's efforts to destroy it.
Clay and Jackson cartoon
This 1834 lithograph by David Claypool Johnson shows Kentucky senator Henry Clay sewing President Andrew Jackson's mouth shut. Jackson's fight to destroy the Bank of the United States and his removal of the Treasury secretary led to the Senate's censure of Jackson for abuse of presidential power. Jackson argued that the president, as the only representative of all the people, should rule supreme. Congress did not agree.
At the heart of the debate (led by Clay, among others) was the struggle between the executive branch and the legislature over which branch should dominate the government. That struggle continues today, whichever political party is in office. Courtesy of Library of Congress
Complete Explanation:
A crudely drawn anti-Jackson satire, applauding Henry Clay's orchestration of Congressional resistance to the President's plan to withdraw Treasury funds from the Bank of the United States. The print also attacks Vice-President Van Buren's purported manipulation of administration fiscal policy. The title continues, "Shewing the Beneficial Effects of Clay & Co's Highly Approved Congress Water administered to a very old man sick of the Deposite [sic] Fever caused by wearing Van Buren's newly invented Patent Magic High Pressure Cabinet Spectacles."
In the center Jackson, wearing dark spectacles, bends over, vomiting papers inscribed "Veto", "Responsibility" and "Message" while Henry Clay (seated at table, left) and Major Jack Downing (laughing, right) look on and comment.
· Clay holds a bottle, having just administered his "Congress Water" to Jackson: "'Tis good Chieftain 'twill bring forth Offensive matter."
· Downing: "...I kinder hinted To the Jinerl I ges'd Congress-Water and Responsibility wouldn't agree on his Stomach. The Jineral says to me says he 'Major that Clay is a bold impudent feller and will speak out his mind if the Divil stands at the Door."
· Jackson: "Devil Take the Treasury and my Secretary Too."
Behind him, the Devil walks toward the door with Treasury Secretary Roger B. Taney and a sack "{dollar}200,000,000 United States Treasures" slung over his back. The image alludes to Congress's refusal to confirm Taney as Treasury Secretary.
Dated 1833 in the imprint, "Troubled Treasures" may be an earlier version of a print with the same title copyrighted by Bisbee on February 1, 1834, along with "The Vision. Political Hydrophobia" (no. 1834-8). This later entry may be the "Second Edition"--a reversed and slightly modified version also published by Bisbee--recorded by Weitenkampf. In the later version, there is no reference to the treasury secretary, and the devil carries off only a sack of money. Jackson says merely, "Devil take the Treasures."
Complete Explanation:
A simpler and less animated composition on the same general idea as Edward W. Clay's ".00001" (no. 1831-1). Again Jackson is seated in a collapsing chair, with the "Altar of Reform" toppling next to him, and rats scurrying at his feet. The rats are (left to right): Secretary of War John H. Eaton, Secretary of the Navy John Branch, Secretary of State Martin Van Buren, and Treasury Secretary Samuel D. Ingham. Jackson's spectacles are pushed up over his forehead, and his foot is planted firmly on the tail of the Van Buren rat. "Resignations" fill the air behind him, and a pillar marked "Public confidence in the stability of this admistration [sic]" falls to the left.
There seem to be at least two versions of the print, not counting Clay's ".00001." The present version seems to be a close but inferior copy of the print by the same title attributed to Edward W. Clay by both Murrell and Davison. The latter has the legend "Washington 1831" printed in the lower margin. Davison quotes from an April 25 entry in John Quincy Adams’ diary saying that "Two thousand copies of this print have been sold in Philadelphia this day. Ten thousand copies have been struck off, and will all be disposed of within a fortnight." It is unclear, however, whether Adams was referring to a version of "The Rats leaving a Falling House" or to Clay's ".00001" which was produced and published in Philadelphia and deposited for copyright on May 5
Complete Explanation:
A prediction of dire consequences to follow from Jackson's withdrawal of federal funds from the Bank of the United States, initiated late in 1833. The artist is harshly critical of Jackson's move to distribute federal treasury funds among several state or so-called "pet" banks. He also condemns the influence of both Jackson's informal circle of advisors, the "Kitchen Cabinet," and the newspapers friendly to the Administration, the "Collar Presses." Jackson declared his own personal "responsibility" for the controversial order to remove the feredal deposits from the Bank.
Here a mob of farmers, laborers, and tradesmen riot, holding papers saying "Broken Bank," and shouting "Send back the deposites! Recharter the Bank!" and "Come back old responsibility." They pursue Jackson, who flees to the right carried on the back of Jack Downing. Jackson: "By the Eternal Major Downing; I find Ive been a mere tool to that Damn'd Amos [Kendall] and his set, the sooner I cut stick the better."
Downing: "I told you I'd get you off Jinral but it will be a tarnel tight squeeze I guess."
In the center Thomas Ellicott and Reuben Whitney, anti-Bank fiscal advisors to the administration, try to pull down the statue of Justice (here labeled "Supreme Court") resting on a pedestal "Constitution." A man in judge's robes, Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, warns "Miscreants forbear, the day of retribution is at hand and Justice shall be no longer set at defiance!" Five dogs, representing newspapers supportive of Jackson's program, including the "Globe, Albany Argus, Evening Post, Standard," and "Journal of Commerce" scamper away with their collars chained together. These are called "Collar Presses, " a derisive nickname playing on their status as newspapers or "presses" subservient to the administration.
On the far left Henry Clay tells Daniel Webster and John Calhoun, "Behold Senators the fulfilment of my predictions!" Below them two blacks converse: "Hurrah Bob two or three more rows like dis and nigger free, for there will be no more Goberment."
"Hurrah! for Massa Garison [i.e. abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison], den he shall be King!"
On a step at lower left a sailor offers a Jewish broker a ten dollar bank-note.
Sailor: "I say Moses give us some ballast for this here bit of rag."
Banker: "Mine Got that ish one of the Pet Bankhs I'll give you one Dollar for the Ten."
Complete Explanation:
A rare pro-Jackson satire on the President's campaign to destroy the political power and influence of the Bank of the United States. It was probably issued late in the presidential campaign of 1832, after Jackson's July veto of the bill to re-charter the Bank. (Weitenkampf tentatively dated the print 1833, but the Library's impression was deposited for copyright on September 12, 1832.)
Jackson is portrayed as a cat (with a tail marked "Veto") defending the corn cribs in "Uncle Sam's Barn" from rats "which had burrow'd through the floor, to get at his capital Corn Crib: While Uncle Sam, and his active laborers, stand at the door, enjoying the sport." The cat has one rat in his mouth, possibly Henry Clay, who says, "My case is desperate." Under his paws is another (possibly the Bank's president Nicholas Biddle) who says, "Them d'd Clay-Bank Rats brought me to this." In the lower left a rat with a cape and his paw on a Bible says, "My Cloak does not cover me, as well as I could wish, but this Book with it, will be a good passport to the Corn Crib." Other rats creeping from holes in the floor say, "I'l keep in my hole while he's in sight" and "No chance for me whie he's in the Barn."
At the upper right two rats (possibly influential pro-Bank newspaper editors James Watson Webb and Charles King) nibble corn, remarking, "The U.S. Bank Rats are very liberal to us Editor Rats, we must stick to them at all risks."
From an open doorway three men, "Uncle Sam and his active laborers," survey the scene.
First man: "Bravo my Boys! keep him in the Barn; and no doubt, but he will keep the Rats away."
Second: "What a tail he carries! I guess he is of the Kilkenny breed." Third: "How he nicks them."
The use of rats to symbolize corruption was commonplace in cartoons of the 1830s, particularly with respect to the Bank of the United States. See ""This is the house that Jack built"" (no. 1833-6). For their use in another context see ".00001. The value of a unit..." and "The Rats Leaving a Falling House" (nos. 1831-1 and 1831-2).