On the way to Araby! - Political cartoon, public domain image

Satire on the Jackson administration's continuing battle against the Bank of the United States. The print was specifically occasioned by the re-chartering of the Bank by the Whig-controlled Pennsylvania Legislature in defiance of the administration. The artist also ridicules the ambitions of Jackson's vice-president and would-be successor Martin Van Buren. Jackson, holding a broken cane labeled "Veto," flees to the left away from Bank president Nicholas Biddle (right) who displays a two-faced demon's head and the Bank's new charter. Biddle stands on the front step of the "Old United States Bank" and says, "General allow me to introduce an old friend with a new face."% Jackson: "The Monster! the many headed Monster's come to life! Old Nick! Old Nick! I'll cut stick and fly to Araby!. . ." Van Buren (who clings to Jackson's discarded cloak, labeled "Collar presses, No Monopoly, Deposits, Appropriation, Globe, Specie Currency"): "Stop General! Like the Prophet Elisha he has left his mantle with me. I hope it will fit!"
Entered . . . 1836 by H.R. Robinson.
Published March 1836 by H.R. Robinson, 48 Cortlandt St. New York.
Signed with monogram: C (Edward Williams Clay).
Title appears as it is written on the item.
Davison, no. 79.
Weitenkampf, p. 40.
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 1836-8.