1,029 Cartoon prints american Images: LOC's Public Domain Archive Public Domain Search

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The gunboat candidate at the Battle of Malvern Hill

Democratic presidential candidate George Brinton McClellan is lampooned as an incompetent military leader. He sits in a saddle mounted on the boom of the Union ironclad vessel "Galena." The print recalls two p... More

Jeffie Davis, the belle of Richmond

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by J. Hoey, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. J. Hoey, designer and engraver on wood... More

The Radical Convention in Philadelphia, September 3d, 1866

A racist poster attacking Republican gubernatorial candidate John White Geary for his support of black suffrage. (See also "The Constitutional Amendment!," no. 1866-5.) The artist purports to show the conventi... More

Leaders of the Democratic Party, Confederate States of America.

A searing, election-year indictment of four prominent figures in the Democratic party, three of them former Confederate officers. Former New York governor and Democratic presidential nominee Horatio Seymour is... More

Triumph of labor - Political cartoon, public domain image

Published by Joseph Roos & Co. N.E. Cor. Comm. & Leidesdorff Sta. S.F. Copyrighted 1878. Title appears as it is written on the item. Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Historical caricature of the Cherokee nation

R11803 U.S. Copyright Office. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1886 (All rights reserved.) Stamped and inscribed in pencil on lower : Library of Congress City of Washington. Copyright Jul 10 18... More

Col. Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky / Hoffay ; A.A. Hoffay, pinxt. & ...

Portrait of Representative from Kentucky Richard M. Johnson, standing in a rhetorical pose and holding documents "Sunday Mail Reports" in his right hand. These refer to his important 1829 and 1830 reports, as S... More

Shadows of the times. Pl. 1 / P. Kramer, del.

A somewhat xenophobic view of the threat of European intervention in the American Civil War. The cartoon consists of two shadow-play tableaux. In the first, Queen Victoria (right) makes a menacing gesture towar... More

The meeting at Saratoga. "Like boxers thus before the fight, their ha...

The second of two prints by "HD" portraying scenes from President Van Buren's visit to the resort at Saratoga Springs, New York, during the summer of 1839. (See also "The Cut Direct," no. 1839-3.) The satire co... More

America. To perpetuate to posterity the memory of those patriotic hero...

Amos Doolittle's print after Robert Edge Pine's design appears to be an enlarged copy of Strutt's engraving (1781-1). It follows the original in most details, except for the figure in the medallion on the pyram... More

The Radical Party on a heavy grade / J.M. Ives, del. ; on stone by Cam...

An election-year cartoon, predicting the victory of former New York governor Horatio Seymour in the presidential race. Here, Seymour's head hovers, glowing, above the White House, complacently watching a group ... More

Log cabin anecdotes. Illustrated incidents in the life of General Will...

A Whig campaign broadside, with text describing a series of 12 incidents in the life of William Henry Harrison, illustrated with wood-engravings. The incidents are (counterclockwise from upper left): "Harrison'... More

The working-man's banner. For President, Ulysses S. Grant, "The Galena...

Print shows a Republican campaign banner designed to appeal to the labor vote by invoking the working class origins of candidates Ulysses S. Grant and Henry Wilson. Grant wears a tanner's apron and jackboots an... More

The American Declaration of Independence illustrated / Fabronious ; de...

An idealistic call for emancipation of the slaves. Borne aloft by an eagle holding two American flags is an aerial carriage similar to the basket of a hot-air balloon with two occupants: a black man who is a fr... More

I feed you all! - Political cartoon, public domain image

No doubt inspired by the Granger movement, the artist asserts the importance of the farmer in American society. The title is a variation on the movement's motto, "I Pay for All." The Grange was an organization ... More

Zachary Taylor, people's candidate for President

Print shows a campaign banner for Whig presidential and vice presidential nominees for 1848, Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore. Unlike Currier's other Whig banners (nos. 1848-5 and -7) this example is horizon... More

A scene on the frontiers as practiced by the "humane" British and thei...

Charles denounces British and Indian depredations on the American frontier during the War of 1812, alluding specifically to the practice of offering bounties for American scalps. The cartoon may have been prom... More

The laying of the cable---John and Jonathan joining hands / W & P.

A crude but engaging picture, celebrating the goodwill between Great Britain and the United States generated by the successful completion of the Atlantic telegraph cable between Newfoundland and Valentia Bay (I... More

John Bull makes a discovery, Confederate States of America.

An anti-British satire, reflecting Northern fears of English assistance to the Confederacy. The print probably appeared in late 1862 or early 1863, when a cotton shortage caused by the Union blockade of Confede... More

Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. No. 37 / G. ...

Print shows a campaign banner for the Republican ticket in the 1864 presidential election. It consists of facing bust portraits of Abraham Lincoln (left) and Andrew Johnson (right). Below each portrait is an id... More

The shackle broken - by the genius of freedom / lith. & print by E. Sa...

Public domain image related to President Abraham Lincoln, gelatin silver print, free to use, no copyright restrictions image - Picryl description

The two platforms. Book illustration from Library of Congress

Another in a series of racist posters attacking Radical Republican exponents of black suffrage, issued during the 1866 Pennsylvania gubernatorial race. (See "The Constitutional Amendment," no. 1866-5.) The pos... More

America. To those, who wish to sheathe the desolating sword of war. An...

Print shows an allegory of the restoration of peace and prosperity to America following the Revolution. The print is based on a 1778 painting by British artist Robert Edge Pine, which was destroyed by fire in 1... More

The nation's choice for the 12th President of the U.S. Genl. Z. Taylor...

A campaign print for Whig presidential nominee Zachary Taylor. A bust-length portrait of the Mexican War hero is set in an oval frame of oak leaves and acorns, surrounded by various martial attributes. Cannon, ... More

Lewis Cass, Democratic candidate for president

Print shows a campaign banner for Democratic candidates Lewis Cass and William O. Butler produced for the 1848 presidential election. The banner is designed in a horizontal format, similar to Currier's "Zachary... More

Studying political economy. Book illustration from Library of Congress

A crudely drawn but complex satire mocking Zachary Taylor's military background and lack of political experience. Student Zachary Taylor, wearing a paper cap made out of the journal "The True Whig" is seated on... More

Wanted a substitute. American Civil War 1861-1865.

An illustrated sheet music cover, which protests the inequities of the draft or proscription system enacted under the Enrollment Act of 1863. The act allowed drafted men to purchase an exemption or to furnish a... More

United Americans of the state of New York / designed & litho'd. in col...

A large, illustrated membership certificate for the Order of United Americans, a nativist secret society founded in New York City in December 1844. Originally called the American Brotherhood, the organization c... More

Congressional scales. A true balance, Political Cartoon

A satire on President Zachary Taylor's attempts to balance Southern and Northern interests on the question of slavery in 1850. Taylor stands atop a pair of scales, with a weight in each hand; the weight on the ... More

The result of the Fifteenth Amendment, and the rise and progress of th...

One of several large commemorative prints marking the enactment on March 30, 1870, of the Fifteenth Amendment, and showing the parade celebrating it which was held in Baltimore on May 19 the same year. The amen... More

The rats leaving a falling house

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 ra... More

Southerner rights segars. Expressly manufactured for Georgia & Alabama...

A considerably idealized view of slave life in the American South, appearing on a printed label for cigars "expressly manufactured for Georgia and Alabama." The New York firm Salomon Brothers may have sought to... More

Taylor / designed & drawn by J.G. Bruff, Washington, D.C.

A campaign print, grandiose in design and imagery, for Whig presidential candidate Zachary Taylor. A corona of thirty stars appears in a burst of light. Emanating streams of light illuminate a broad expanse of ... More

The prairie dog sickened at the sting of the hornet or a diplomatic pu...

James Akin's earliest-known signed cartoon, "The Prairie Dog" is an anti-Jefferson satire, relating to Jefferson's covert negotiations for the purchase of West Florida from Spain in 1804. Jefferson, as a scraw... More

The people's line--Take care of the locomotive

Incumbent President Martin Van Buren drives "Uncle Sam's Cab," a carriage pulled by a blindered horse, which wrecks on a pile of "Clay." The carriage founders in the path of a locomotive, really an assemblage o... More

A dream caused by the perusal of Mrs. H. Beecher Stowe's popular work ...

An imaginative and biting satire on Harriet Beecher Stowe and her recently published antislavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Printed serially beginning in June 1851, the novel first appeared in book form in 1852... More

Strong's dime caricatures. No. 3, South Carolina Topsey in a fix

The third in Thomas W. Strong's "Dime Caricatures" series of antisecessionist prints published early in 1861. Here Topsy, the impish slave child in Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," personifies the s... More

General Harrison's log cabin marc & quick step

An illustrated Whig campaign music sheet. Before a log cabin in the wilderness Harrison greets a crippled veteran in a fashion similar to "This log cabin . . ." (no. 1840-17). In the distance is a somewhat lar... More

Specie claws - Public domain dedication image

A melodramatic portrayal of the plight of the tradesman during the Panic of 1837, whose financial distress the artist ascribes to Loco Foco politics and the effects of the Specie Circular, or "Specie Clause." T... More

Reconstruction / eng. by J.L. Giles, N.Y. ; printed by F[rancis] Rate...

Print shows a grand allegory of the reconciliation of North and South through the federal program of Reconstruction. Visionary in its breadth and scale, the work is a remarkable combination of religious and pat... More

Practical illustration of the Fugitive Slave Law / E.C. del.

A satire on the antagonism between Northern abolitionists on the one hand, and Secretary of State Daniel Webster and other supporters of enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Here abolitionist William ... More

Jeff. Davis in prison, Confederate States of America.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1865 by Gibson & Co. in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio. Inscribed in ink below title: Filed June ... More

America / E.W.C. - Print, Library of Congress collection

Print shows an idealized portrayal of American slavery and the conditions of blacks under this system in 1841. The Library's impression of the print is a fragment--the left panel only--of a larger print entitle... More

Presidents of the United States / A. Feusier, del. & lith.

A large, patriotic print probably issued around the time of Abraham Lincoln's inauguration. Columbia stands before the U.S. Capitol, holding a shield and a staff with a liberty cap. On her brow she wears a laur... More

Joseph E. Baker - The "rail splitter" at work repairing the union

Cartoon print shows Vice President Andrew Johnson sitting atop a globe, attempting to stitch together the map of the United States with needle and thread. Abraham Lincoln stands, right, using a split rail to po... More

George Hunt - Grand National Democratic banner. Peace! Union! and vict...

Print shows a campaign banner, almost identical to the "Grand National Union Banner" (no. 1864-13) except for the inclusion of portraits of Democratic candidates George B. McClellan and George H. Pendleton, two... More

George Hunt - Grand National Democratic banner. Peace! Union! and vict...

Major General Zachary Taylor / drawn by S. Wallin, from a late sketch ...

A full-length standing portrait of Mexican War hero Zachary Taylor. Although issued in 1847, this poster-sized woodcut was probably designed with the 1848 U.S. presidential campaign in mind. The Library also ha... More

The national game. Three "outs" and one "run"

A pro-Lincoln satire, deposited for copyright weeks before the 1860 presidential election. The contest is portrayed as a baseball game in which Lincoln has defeated (left to right) John Bell, Stephen A. Douglas... More

Arms of the United States of America / J.E. Baker [Joseph E. Baker].

Print shows an elaborate martial allegory of the United States. Liberty or Columbia, wearing a Phrygian cap and armed with sword, shield, and American flag, is enthroned in the clouds. The words "E Pluribus Unu... More

National Democratic chart, 1876--For president, Samuel J. Tilden, for ...

A large campaign chart features the portraits of Democratic presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden and running mate Thomas A. Hendricks and smaller medallion portraits. The candidates are shown in roundel bust... More

Dreadful Riot on Negro Hill! - Public domain broadside, Library of Con...

Another in the "bobalition" series of broadsides, parodying black manners, illiteracy, and dialect. (See no. 1819-2.) The text describes, in the words of a "letter from Phillis to her sister in the country," a ... More

Mystery of Babylon. Book illustration from Library of Congress

An anti-religious satire attacking most of the major denominations of the nineteenth century, including Catholics, Episcopalians, Calvinists, Universalists, Methodists, Baptists, and Quakers. The artist parodi... More

Our country's flag! A new national song

Cover illustration for a patriotic song composed by George F. Cole, copyrighted in 1836. A young American seaman, holding an American flag with his right hand and raising his hat aloft with his left, stands on... More

The debilitated situation of a monarchal government . . .

A pointed comparison of French and American governments, prompted by events surrounding American efforts in 1836 to force France to honor spoliation claims for American shipping losses suffered during the Napol... More

6 cents. Humbug glory bank - Public domain book illustration, Library ...

Another mock bank note parodying the "shinplasters" of the 1837 panic. Such small-denomination notes were based on the division of the Spanish dollar, the dominant specie of the time. Hence they were issued in ... More

New edition of MacBeth. Bank-oh's! Ghost

Another satire on the Panic of 1837, again condemning Van Buren's continuation of predecessor Andrew Jackson's hard-money policies as the source of the crisis. Clay shows the president haunted by the ghost of C... More

Fifty cents. Shin plaster - Public domain scan / drawing

Another mock shinplaster (see also nos. 1837-9 and -10 above). Again the artist attributes the shortage of hard money to the successive monetary programs of presidents Jackson and Van Buren, particularly to the... More

An exploring expedition on the Canal Street plan / The exploring exped...

Print satirizes Charles Wilkes' United States Exploring Expedition, which left in August 1838. The upper left vignette shows Wilkes in a rowboat with scientists who use a transit or telescope to see fauna. The ... More

Evenhanded justice of the breaking up of the star chamber

Another in the series of "Spoodlyks's" satires on the Glentworth affair. (See also nos. 1840-60, -61, and -63). Here the artist portrays Glentworth's attempt to remove evidence in the vote fraud inquiry from t... More

O.K. - Political cartoon, public domain image

A postelection Whig satire, "Respectfully dedicated to the members of the Eighth Ward Tippecanoe Club and inscribed to their Patriotic Chairman Charles H. Delavan, Esqr." The artist shows a crowd of Whigs assem... More

This log cabin was the first building erected on the North Bend . . .

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 s... More

Matty's dream. Book illustration from Library of Congress

Clay portrays Martin Van Buren driven from the White House by nightmares of cider barrels and Whig presidential challenger William Henry Harrison. Van Buren flees the presidential mansion in his nightshirt, dro... More

The two bridges - Political cartoon, public domain image

As in "Texas Coming In" (no. 1844-28), a bridge over Salt River is the central motif, making the difference between the Whigs' successful crossing to the "Presidential Chair" and the disastrous route taken by t... More

Fight between the Kentucky coon & the Tennessee alligator

A woodland fantasy satirizing the prominent figures of the 1844 election campaign. The artist again favors Whig candidate Henry Clay, the "Kentucky Coon," who is shown overwhelming Democrat James K. Polk, the ... More

Loco Foco triumphal honors - Public domain book illustration, Library ...

A mock triumphal procession ridiculing "Loco Foco" or radical Democratic support of candidates James K. Polk and George M. Dallas. The Loco Focos are portrayed as ragged Irishmen, carrying the two candidates on... More

On to the charge! Inscribed to the memory of Major Ringgold . . .

An illustrated sheet music cover for a song memorializing one of the first heroes of the Mexican War, Maj. Samuel Ringgold. Zachary Taylor's innovative gunnery commander was fatally wounded in May 1846 during t... More

The bandits bride vide Herald May 5th 1847

Lith. & pub. by H.R. Robinson 142 Nassau St. N. York. Title appears as it is written on the item. Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Who says gas? Or the Democratic b-hoy

A pro-Democrat satire, pitting Democratic candidate Lewis Cass against Whig nominee Zachary Taylor in a bout for the presidency. Cass (center) is the obvious favorite. He wears the stovepipe hat, boots, bold pl... More

Cass & his cabinet in 1849 - Political cartoon, public domain image

The satire imputes to the Democrats of 1848, led by candidate Lewis Cass, the corrupt practices of the Van Buren-era party. The artist also criticizes Whig repudiation of stalwart party leader Henry Clay in fav... More

Knock'd into a cock'd hat - Public domain scan / print

Zachary Taylor's presidential nomination at the Whig national convention in Philadelphia on June 9, 1848, is represented as a severe blow to Lewis Cass, nominated by the Democrats a few weeks earlier. The extre... More

The modern Gilpins. Love's labor lost

A parody of Democratic politics in the months preceding the party's 1848 national convention. Specifically, the artist ridicules the rivalry within the party between Free Soil or anti-slavery interests, which u... More

Grand set to between rough and ready and Genal. Gas

Zachary Taylor and Lewis Cass engage in a bout of fisticuffs in their battle for the presidency in 1848. Taylor, clearly getting the better of his opponent, seizes Cass by the lapels saying, "A little more gra... More

Self-inflating pillow. Book illustration from Library of Congress

American general Gideon J. Pillow's self-promoting attempts to discredit Mexican War commander Gen. Winfield Scott are ridiculed in this portrayal of Scott puncturing "Polk's Patent" pillow. Pillow's efforts we... More

The game-cock & the goose - Political cartoon, public domain image

A pro-Whig cartoon showing rival candidates Winfield Scott and Franklin Pierce in a race for the presidency in 1852 before an audience of animated spectators. Scott, in uniform and looking uncharacteristically... More

The gladiators of the Senate! The bulley's of the House

The artist parodies recent outbreaks of violence in Congress, and offers a pointed comparison between the elevated rhetorical sparring in the Senate and a more physical brand of combat in the House of Represent... More

The poor soldier & his ticket for soup

The presidential aspirations of Whig general Winfield Scott during the 1852 election are again belittled. Scott, in a tattered uniform and supporting himself on a crutch, extends his feathered cap toward the fi... More

Loco Foco candidates travelling, on the canel system

Several prospective Democratic presidential candidates travel along a canal in the "Salt River Barge," named after the proverbial river of political defeat. The passengers are (left to right): Lewis Cass, secre... More

Liberty, the fair maid of Kansas--in the hands of the "border ruffians...

A bitter indictment of the Democratic administration's responsibility for violence and bloodshed in Kansas in the wake of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act. (See also "Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Freesoiler... More

The morning after the election--November 1856

The victorious James Buchanan sits under a trellis of grape vines, holding reports of election returns on his lap. He reflects, "What a happy morning for my country and myself. Here I find returns for myself & ... More

Free territory for a free people

A proof, printed on paper, for a small campaign badge or banner for 1860 Republican candidates Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin. The badge has interesting similarities to "Lincoln and Hamlin" (no. 1860-10), ... More

The political quadrille. Music by Dred Scott

A general parody on the 1860 presidential contest, highlighting the impact of the Dred Scott decision on the race. That controversial decision, handed down in 1857 by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, ruled that ne... More

Strong's dime caricatures. No. 2, Little Bo-Peep and her foolish sheep

The second in a series of caricatures criticizing the secession of several Southern states from the Union during the last months of the Buchanan administration. Here the young nursery-rhyme shepherdess Bo-Peep ... More

Political caricature. No. 3, The abolition catastrophe. Or the Novembe...

Lincoln's support of abolition is portrayed here as a liability in his race to the White House against Democratic candidate George B. McClellan. At top a smoothly run train "Union" heads straight for the White... More

The first of May 1865 of Genl. Movingday in Richmond Virginia

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1865 by H. & W. Voight in the Clerks Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. Published by H. & W. Voight. Lith. by Kimmel & Forster, ... More

To the united democracy. Seymour, Blair and victory!

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... More

Showing the true colors / L' ne rev tu de la peau du lion

Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1870 by John Walsh & Co. 37 Spring St. N.Y. in the Clerk's Off. of the Dist. Court of the U.S. for the S. Dist. of NY. Lith F. Ratellier 23 Dey St N.Y. Published... More

The working man--he is to society what the main-mast is to the ship

A campaign portrait of Henry Clay, Whig presidential candidate in 1844. In a full-length pose no doubt derivative of John Neagle's Ashland portrait (see "Henry Clay," no. 1843-7), Clay stands in a landscape, ge... More

At the Battle of Palo Alto, the Americans greatly distinguished themse...

The artist exaggerates the humane treatment given by American soldiers to the Mexican wounded at the Battle of Palo Alto. The title continues, "the Americans greatly distinguished themselves, as well for their ... More

The peoples' choice, H. Greeley G. Brown / C. Koenig..

Print shows a campaign banner for Horace Greeley and Benjamin Gratz Brown. The 1870 copyright imprint date on the print must be erroneous, since Greeley's unexpected nomination by the Liberal Republicans did no... More

Political race course - Union Track - fall races 1836

A figurative portrayal -- clearly sympathetic to the Whig party -- of the 1836 presidential election contest as a horse race between four candidates. The four are identified in the legend as (left to right): "O... More

The champions of the people's right

Another large campaign broadside or "chart" for Tilden and Hendricks. (See also no. 1876-4.) The candidates' bust portraits appear in oval medallions enframed by lush foliage and flowers. A classical female fig... More

Yankee volunteers marching into Dixie / J.H. Bufford's lith., Boston.

Music cover showing a patriotic but fanciful portrayal of Union forces marching on the South at the opening of the Civil War. Led by a blue-uniformed officer with a drawn sword, a large troop of men march forwa... More

Yankee volunteers marching into Dixie / J.H. Bufford's lith., Boston.

The working-man's banner. For President, Ulysses S. Grant, "The Galena...

Political caricature. No. 4, The miscegenation ball

Although slightly different in format, this appears to be the fourth in the Bromley series of anti-Republican satires. As in no. 2 of the series, "Miscegenation or the Millenium of Abolitionism" (no. 1864-39), ... More

Political caricature. No. 4, The miscegenation ball

The American Declaration of Independence illustrated / Fabronious ; de...

The Commander-in-Chief conciliating the soldier's votes on the battle ...

A bitterly anti-Lincoln cartoon, based on slanderous newspaper reports of the President's callous disregard of the misery of Union troops at the front. The story that Lincoln had joked on the field at Antietam ... More

Zachary Taylor, people's candidate for President

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