Politics as Social History: Political Cartoons in the Gilded Age
Author(s): Rebecca Edwards
Source: Magazine of History, Vol. 13, No. 4, The Gilded Age (Summer, 1999), pp. 11-15
Published by: Organization of American Historians
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25163304
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Magazine of History.
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Rebecca
As
Politics
Social
the
Lists
of presidents
of shifting
analyses
electoral
and
methods
haven't
and numbing
Textbooks
helped.
often
separate
political
and
politics
backtracking
from
detached
real
of politics
with
the
religious
and
family,
connections
these
the
practice,
other
when
aspects
we
literature,
own
the
connections
beliefs
of our
How
culture.
the past?
politics
our
see
television,
race relations,
of American
part
and then
religion,
contradicts
and
about
teaching
as a vital
in society,
politics
on
turn
work,
approach marginalizes
lives)
people's
we
Whenever
and
of women,
and everyday life. This
music,
ence.
the history
into
society
two
Era,
In contrast,
the
in which
periods
intervening
gender
do we
capture
can we
place
life?
"really mattered."
politics
seem
decades
to offer
disillusionment and cynicism. The end of Reconstruction left a sorry
mess in the South; the Homestead Act and railroad grants culmi
in aWestern
nated
bust,
followed
a massive
by
in the
depression
that failed to evoke a New Deal. The Populist movement
collapsed, and Republicans' crowning achievements were a high tariff
and maintenance of the gold standard. The very name "Gilded Age"
1890s
derives
from Mark
There
are,
perhaps
even
teaching
social
partly
because
Twain's
however,
to
recapture
history.
of
new
satire
bitter
other
ways
on
congressional
to
teach
its excitement,
Political
technologies
cartoons
while
flourished
of mass
politics,
same
time
in these
circulation
the
that
society
the prejudices
represent
following
Such
debate.
partisan
with
them,
produced
of the white,
reveal
as well
stratified
ingly
cartoons
of four
analyses
that
politics
references
middle-class
Protestant,
issues
key
as
struggles
suggest
over
of gender,
resources
material
The
to Gilded-Age
approaches
at stake?issues
major
that majority.
and
religion,
in an increas
economy.
but
"Ready for Business: To Go to the Highest Bidder,"
Ride (23 July 1884); and
Frederick Burr Opper, "Gorilla Warfare Under
the
Protection of the American Flag," Puck (19 March 1884).
Historians such as David Roediger (The Wages of Whiteness)
and Noel Ignatiev (How the Irish Became White) have recently
explored the "whitening" of Irish immigrants in the United States:
immigrants
Irish working-class
Democrats
votes,
as a white
ethnic
rather
group
contrast
to the status
"GorillaWarfare"
era,
images
years,
also
of
of African
Protestants
Americans.
Irish
ape-like
people
such
journals
a race,
still viewed
the
Irish
as
in pointed
for Business"
"Ready
to circulate,
as
Many
ignorant
aliens,
and
In the post-bellum
continued
Puck.
the new
define
helped
than
suggest the limits of this process.
Democratic-leaning
even
in
native-born
easily
corrupted,
subservient to illegitimate authority (that is, the Pope), and subversive
of democracy.
corruption.
Gilded-Age
at the
viciousness?of
intensity?even
ranging from the Bible to the nationwide bicycle craze. They vividly
seeking
in
lessons
only
the
reflected
experi
The problem is particularly acute in teaching the Gilded Age.
The years 1870 to 1900 were sandwiched between the Civil War and
the Progressive
of
cartoons
ethnicity,
(as
about
How
because
ity, and of regional and partisan factions within
historians
different sections, dutifully outlining events inWashington
to cover
far
of social historians. The
of some
prose
and
congressional
seem old-fashioned,
less fresh and exciting than the findings
quantitative
Age
lately had a dull
leaders
majorities
in
Gilded
has
he history of parties and elections
reputation.
History:
Cartoons
Political
T?
Edwards
Such
anxieties
York, where Tammany
blocs
of
The
were
strongest
Hall provided potent
immigrant
voters.
references
to slavery
in "Ready
in cities
for Business"
of History
as New
leadership for large
The equation of a New York Irish ward voter with
OAH Magazine
such
are
intriguing.
a slave on the
Summer 1999
11
Edwards/Cartoons
READY
leaders of Tammany Hall had frequently butted
heads with New York Governor Grover Cleveland,
BUSINESS.
FOR
was
who
the
Democrats'
National
political
uncertain
whom
enthusiastically
about
even
racial
would
they would
do
a prehensile
feet and
radical
leaders
of
in a nasty
O'Donovan
of
uses
simian
on
attack
one
Rossa,
Fenian
the
are
for Business"
which
Warfare,"
how
to anxieties
votes.
Irish
of "Ready
tail
Rossa.
O'Donovan
were
and
support,
so, adding
influence
implications
in "Gorilla
clearer
commentators
and
Tammany
the potential
The
nominee.
presidential
leaders
Jeremiah
of the most
had
movement,
been
released from prison by British authorities in 1871 on
the condition that he leave Ireland. He emigrated to
New York where he edited the United Irishman. A
advocate
prominent
raise
he helped
zations
for various
caricature
classroom
lecture
many
discussion,
of racial
to have distinctive
peared
acterizations
of
tions
the
about
by class
and
the
Irish
Irish
tionaries.
(Puck, 23 July 1884.)
were
cartoon
This
slavery.
and
fading
Democrats'
claim
and
dependent
the
racial
that blacks
to deserve
were
the vote.
and
antagonism
at a time when
were
Northerners
of the evils of
denunciations
however,
appeared,
beginning
a lower class
"Ready
the patronizing
to
and
war
Southern
accept
too
race,
for Business"
attitude
issues
echoes
inherent
both
a view of blacks, directing them instead at the Irish man on the block.
He is shackled and helpless, suggesting that not he but the boss
(fulfilling the role of the slave dealer in anti-Southern cartoons) is
the one to blame.
The Irish man's
ape-like face and dull
show
however,
expression,
that his
own
is a large
"unfitness"
part
of the alleged problem.
for
"Ready
presidential
nominee
and
Business"
of
a Catholic
reflects
OAH Magazine
of History
the
circumstances
James G. Blaine,
mother,
aggressively than had earlier Republican
12
of
of
the
Rossa
races
preceded
evolution.
Middle-
and
of "ape-like"
on
debate
popular
might
of Darwinism,
impact
the
theory
Americans
upper-class
one
O'Donovan
with
such
read
as
caricature
Opper's
from
associations.
longstanding
(and by extension
or
ethnic
placing
all Irish radicals) low on an
might,
idea of
so,
also
still
lead
whom
upon
to a comparison
now
accepted
for example,
Saddam
"race"
could
attacks
If
group?
depicting
Is the
attack
such
Students
cartoons
Gulf War.
of Pucks
Are
today.
circumstances?
of U.S.
can
Rossa
viciousness
politics
religion,
of
scale.
evolutionary
The
because
primates
on
and
look
any
"race,"
under
what
at a cross-section
Hussein,
especially
changing,
as
in debates
during
over
the
the
formulation of racial categories for the 2000 census? Students might
also
election of 1884.
son
"lower"
in such
some
pages
in part, appalled by the idea that they had descended
were,
Nonetheless,
ignorant
the
but it should be noted that depictions
of
auction block harks back to Civil War
of O'Donovan
depiction
to a discussion
lower
revolu
leaders
in
the
case,
magazines.
Puck's
Bidder."
Irish
portraits
flattering
influenced
In this
conservative
More
The
char
Concep
thus
to discredit
used
ap
such
poor.
were
differences.
religious
received
American
from
Catholic
"race"
Irish
features.
physical
to
but
race,
the
exempted
is specifically
stereotype
times
were
gentry
the
no one
Today
separate
Americans
nineteenth-century
Anglo-Irish
Highest
a
for
on
especially
categories.
Americans
Irish
avenues
several
opens
and
construction
social
considers
"Ready for Business:ToGoTothe
rule,
organi
revolutionary
in Ireland.
Opper's
lead
to British
resistance
of violent
funds
sought
the
the Republican
Irish
candidates.
Summer 1999
of
votes
more
In addition,
also
compare
ans,
or Jews,
sources
"Ready
cartoons
Gilded-Age
in order
of prejudice.
for
Business"
and
denigrating
African
to consider
the racial,
"Gorilla
Americans,
ethnic,
Warfare"
American
class,
and
with
Indi
religious
Edwards/Cartoons
"Political Leap-Year?An Attack on the
Puck (26 September 1888).
Workmgman,w
Based on the leap year tradition of Sadie Hawkins Day, which
Samuel Ehrhart,
traditionally
cartoon
this
a reversal
permitted
is an entry
the tariff. The
Congress
to give
tin,
rubber,
The U.S.
and
sugar,
an advantage
other
to American
and were
manufacturers
benefitted
and
the years when
during
into the Confederacy.
textiles,
in order
abroad
tariffs
on
duties
roles,
gender
sexual mores
tariff," as Puck calls it here, had been
"war widow
South had withdrawn
import
of both
for discussion
point
by a Republican-majority
passed
and women's
of men's
own
U.S.
allowed
tariffs
Democrats
jobs.
competition
from
the benefits
to U.S.
working
families,
In Puck's
on
clothing
is a demure
were
as Republicans
if tariffs
of the home.
was
This
industry
farmers
are
woman
lowered.
who
In contrast,
always
that high
justification,
in the
absence
to consumers,
detrimental
not
on
passed
indicators
subtle
pursuit
on
woman
aggressive
difference.
o? class
the
street,
The
widow
are
the
by
influential
represent
indus
implicitly
by
complicated
(a stand-in
for
the
party) is dressed more richly than the domestic figure on
a purse
carries
also
She
of the workingman
full of cash,
on
is based
that her
suggesting
avarice.
insatiable
the
Perhaps
laborer is tempted to throw in his lot with an allegedly wealthy
woman; but the look on this man's face as he drops his lunchpail
High
by many
prices
the
the doorstep.
from
children?who
boys?her
as evidenced
married,
previously
of
and
to ordinary
reflects
conviction
Puck's
Sadie Hawkins
modest
"Miss"
appear
model
who
to be as rich,
for
he will
that
exhibits
but
is a sensible
she
the nation's
feminine
proper
"domestic"
reform.
tariff
choose
is over the workingman
Day
When
will go back to the
not
She may
behavior.
appropriate
housekeeper?an
policies.
claimed.
the "tariff
cartoon,
young
to raise
manufacturers
overseas.
some
with
argued,
condemn
charged high
products
been
trialists lobbying for continued tariff protection.
The gender implications of these caricatures, which
Republican
and laborers, especially those who believed the tariff did not protect
their
o{ chubby
the
industries.
resented
row
has
and
unattractive,
reform
The
wears
store"
promises
of
representative
a crown,
fairer
prices
this
reform
designating
the "Widow War
Tariff"
Herbert George, "The Mashers Called Down,"
Denver New Road (2 July 1892).
"The Mashers
her queen
is older,
Leap-Year,"
Called
above.
cartoonists
Both
equate
are women.
victims
sents
convention
The
Omaha
Baird
federal
systems,
conventions
of,
for
measure
the presidency.
top hat,
to the
up
William
rotund.
had
wears
Harrison
of his
symbolic
stature
recently
and Benjamin
of his
grandfather,
and Minneapolis
Chicago
sense
broader
the major
only
the
men?who
bought
on
urban
operators,
grain-elevator
to eastern
is grossly
may
parties,
in
a
players?
and middle
bankers,
products
and world
repre
but
economic
western
to
failure
Henry Harrison. Cleveland
not
who
maids.
the Democratic
who
parties,
an oversized
as
here
for the 1892 national
nominated Grover Cleveland
Harrison
silver,
appear
respectively,
Republican
of
reform.
slang
on virtuous
advances
venues
They were
com
for men
contemporary
unwelcome
and
coinage
economic
of
and Minneapolis
"mashers,"
to farmers,
aid
of transportation
measures
other
Chicago
them
appeared.
James
advocating
ownership
munication
sent
that
Party
cartoon
nominated
platform,
national
and
repre
for president and adopted the famous
Weaver
made
"Omaha"
the
the
example
of the People's
the week
during
sexual
and
political
Manly
the convention
met
to "Political
in this Populist
but
danger,
and
a counterpoint
offers
Down"
and
sent
markets.
Herbert George, who edited the Populist
"Gorilla Warfare
Frederick
Under
Burr Opper.
the Protection
(Puck, 19March
of the American
1884.)
Flag/' by
New
Road,
ests
through
land
and
dressed
OAH Magazine
shows
class
Harrison
conflicting
and
gender
are
in fashionable
of History
inter
regional
imagery.
prosperous
Cleve
"dudes"
(if slightly ludicrous)
Summer 1999
13
Edwards/Cartoons
outfits.
The
mashers'
and
South,
targets?West,
potential
seems to spark interest in issues like the tariff that might otherwise
Silver
appear in classical garb, perhaps in an implied reference to Botticelli's
Graces.
Three
"Political
These
in contemporary
dressed
Leap-Year,"
to
the women
By
style.
in
the
placing
the South, and Silver in a distant historical era, George renders
West,
more
them
activities
of
own
need
Omaha's
most
delegates,
as protectors
role
masculine
as
women
Populist
convention
"money
Omaha
power."
was
He
farmer.
cause
of
silver
one
than
prosperity
the
in corporate
fortunes
who
were
common
shared
past
of
the
which
for
claim-staker
they
terms,
regional
lived
in, for
In
often
the
despite
making
as
appear
depth
readings
more.
can
cartoons
the
through
who
identify
or
is caricatured
party
affiliation.
of
cartoons
At
best,
dices,
and
era.
In
help
of
eyes
even
the
the
handouts.
a
past
these
can
images
engage
today's
too,
students,
in
Bibliography
Edwards, Rebecca. Angels in theMachinery: Gender in American
Party Politics from the Civil War to the Progressive Era. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Roger
interests
huge
and miners
believe
cast
who
A.
Them
Damned
Pictures:
in Ameri
Explorations
can Political Cartoon Art. North Haven, CT: Archon
in
Especially
treatment
of
useful
Irish
are the chapters
immigrants,
blacks,
"Aliens,"
and
on
Jews;
Books,
cartoonists'
and
"Better
than Red," on images of American
Indians.
Fischer
includes examples from Puck and Judge.
How
the Irish Became White.
New York:
Ignatiev, Noel.
Dead
1995.
Routledge,
Morton.
The
Art and Politics of Thomas Nast.
Keller,
Oxford University Press, 1968.
New York:
of
look
preju
of
another
I have
and
an
make
pre
printed
excellent
break in the middle of a lecture, and
a fun starting point for discussions
or accompaniments
for primary
ings (such as the Omaha
an
anti-Tammany
off
I usually
the
present
and
caption,
explain
cartoonist's
the
the
ask
To
start
image,
read
point
students
at
issue
of
read
platform or
speech).
view,
stake,
and
to
the
the
probable audience(s). This approach
14
O AH Magazine
of History
Called Down. Omaha
dudes, Stop where you arel You have
'Say! Look here, You pie-faced
Now run along,
and insulted them long enough.
little boys, and attend
these poor unfortunates
Ipropose
to protect them hereafter/"
to your own business?for
(Denver New Road, 2 July 1892.)
"The Mashers
followed
Summer 1999
these
struggles.
Americans,
slang
as slides
They
series
of
Cartoons
reading.
offer
priorities,
classroom,
cartoons
sented
independent
In
can
students
the beliefs,
capturing
and
papers
caption
cartoonist's
much
of farmers
research
illustrations,
simple
ing the politician
the
farmers and miners
those
is
prejudices
an hour
in
than
cartoons
textbooks,
history
Why
large numbers
of
1996.
were
cartoon
Pennsylvania?
example,
** *
a one-sentence
with
did many
for
Fischer,
operations.
interests?
one
reveal the high stakes that made politics so central to American
to
life in the Gilded Age, persuading millions
of Americans
in high-turnout, bitterly contested elections. The imme
mobilize
diacy
"The Mashers Called Down" makes a lively starting point for a
discussion of the Populist agenda and the election of 1892. What
and Omaha? On
platforms were adopted in Chicago, Minneapolis,
what points did they differ or agree? How did Populists propose to
"protect" themselves? Why
of nineteenth-century
in
brutally
of a particularly complicated image (like
explanation. Discussion
"Political Leap-Year") is often lengthy and offers students new
their
backing
is a modest
of finance
mining
industry,
strong
provided
If so, Omaha
captains
and workshirt
the mining
and
rawness
The
cartoonists
Populist
boots,
more
and
as pitiful victims of the Eastern
represent
coinage.
of
to stress
the need
Male
family.
the hat,
also
may
to Denver's
central
rather
wears
felt
yawns.
captured
ideas
the
despite
organizers,
speakers,
men
and
as here, depicted women
protection:
stump
Populist
of home
often,
Western
univer
shocking.
women
The
and more
purer
perhaps
the idea of their rough treatment at the hands of the
more
"dudes"
virtues
their
symbolic,
sal?and makes
the
a contrast
offer
figures
provoke
Edwards/Cartoons
Leonard, Thomas C. The
Power of thePress: The
Birth of American Po
litical Reporting. New
York: Oxford Univer
sity Press, 1986.
McMath, Robert C. Ameri
can Populism: A Social
18774898.
History,
New York: Hill and
1993.
Wang,
From
H. Wayne.
Morgan,
to McKinley:
Hayes
National Party Politics,
18774896.
Syracuse:
;^>
University
Syracuse
Press, 1969.
Nevins, Allan and Frank
A Cen
Weitenkampf.
tury of Political Car
toons:
in
Caricature
the United States ?om
1800 to 1900. New
C.
York:
5P
Scribner's
Sons, 1944.
Reitano, Joanne R. The
Tariff Question in the
Gilded Age: The Great
Debate of 1888. Uni
Park:
versity
vania
State
:An Attack on theWorkingman.
But he had better look out, for she is a
Leap-Year
a
to
and
has
What's
the matter with the little
and
she
support.
family
growing
large
clinger,
1884.)
girl around the corner?" by Samuel Ehrhart. {Puck, 26 September
"Political
Pennsyl
University
Press, 1994. This piece explores the broader implications of
tariff
arguments,
especially
Plain
on Very
Talks
the
version
This
excellent
Practical
Politics.
forty-page
of
the
text
Progressive-Era
to Tammany
introduction
J.
Press,
an
includes
by
politics,
small-town
editor.
to
tend
toons
the
cartoons,
following
primary
are
sources
useful: Puck (Democratic-leaning),
Judge (Republican), Harpers
Weekly
(employer of the pioneer cartoonist Thomas Nast), and
Review of Reviews (which reprinted cartoons from around the
Newspapers
country).
York World
sometimes
cartoons,
days.
Local
in
urban
large
and Boston Globe?offered
sources,
devoting
however,
an
can
entire
be
areas?such
as
to
surprisingly
them
or
artist
cartoons
reprinted
by
from
foreign-language
societies
the
conservative
and
African-American,
press,
but
may
hold
of
this kind,
and
Socialist,
Populist,
a search.
require
they
sources
Car
viewpoints.
City
and
an
increasing
variety of cartoons can be found on theWorld Wide Web.
State
for
University,
example,
from the Chicago-based
The
same
located
site
and
contains
primary
has
a series
posted
state
and
of color
Ohio
cartoons
Social Gospel magazine The Ram sHorn.
a series
of
cartoons
on William
documents
from
the Verdict
McKinley.
This
and
site
is
at <http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/projects/USCartoons/
SpecCollCartoons.htm>.
the New
the largest numbers
page
mainstream
represent
exist
cartoons
additional
an
employed
larger
journals.
success
were
a measure
financial
Cartoons
of a newspaper's
and,
size
its
of
the
and
audience.
therefore
prosperity
They
indirectly,
historical
Roediger, David R. The Wages ofWhiteness: Race and theMaking
of the American Working Class. London: Verso, 1991.
West, Richard S. Satire on Stone: The Political Cartoons of Joseph
Keppler. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988.
For
papers
with
agreement
by Terrence
Edited
New York: Bedford Books of St. Martin's
McDonald.
1994.
poverty.
of Tammany Hall: A Series of Very
Plunkkt
Riordan, William.
to working-class
in relation
on
rich;
Sun
many
of
Rebecca
Edwards
is an assistant
professor
of history
at Vassar
College.
She is the author o/Angels in theMachinery: Gender inAmerican Party
Politics from the Civil War to the Progressive Era (1997).
OAH Magazine
of History
Summer 1999
15