Social qualities of our candidate, Political Cartoon

Reports of his alcoholism haunted Democratic candidate Franklin Pierce during the 1852 campaign. The matter is taken up here with mocking reference to the Maine Liquor Law of 1851, a landmark prohibition measure first passed in Maine and subsequently adopted in several other states. An obviously inebriated Pierce leans against a large tree at right, holding a bottle out toward a man who passes on horseback. The man holds a document "Maine Liquor Law" and carries a barrel of "Hard Cider" on his saddle. He wears a wide-brimmed hat and a drab outfit, indicating that he is a Quaker, among the chief supporters of the temperance movement. Quaker: "Friend that tree looks as if it was old enough to stand alone--Thee need n't hold it up any longer." Pierce: "You have the advantage of me, stranger.--My name is Frank Pierce & I'll stand as long as this tree will stand by me! I'm granite all over! give us your hand--Will you take a horn? I'll give you a toast--Here's confusion to all Maine Liquor Laws. An owl perched on a branch of the tree hoots twice. The Quaker's barrel of "Hard Cider" has a double meaning: it alludes to an earlier (and successful) Whig presidential candidate, William Henry Harrison, and casts doubt on the Quaker's temperance commitment.
Pubd. by John Childs, 84 Nassau St. N. York.
Title appears as it is written on the item.
Weitenkampf, p. 110.
Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)
Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1852-34.