Satire and Political Cartoons: A Historical Slideshow

The militant Islamic attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris have raised questions around the world. Such as, how does the right to free speech relate to the right of religious freedom? How does religious beliefs intersect with satire? Does a free press have an unlimited right to poke fun at any subject matter?

To help provide some background on the use of political criticism through the medium of cartoons, here are several historic examples of political cartoons and engravings throughout periods of United States history. Some of these might strike you as odd, as funny, or perhaps even shocking.

King Andrew the First

Most likely published in 1833, this is one of the more famous political cartoons in U.S. political history. President Andrew Jackson is drawn as a traditional monarch with scepter, krong, and ermine robes. This cartoon was meant to criticize Jackson’s order to remove federal money from the struggling Bank of the United States. Critics of Jackson felt that he went beyond his presidential authority by tampering with the Bank, so they depicted him as a kingly ruler who was unconcerned with the rule of democratic law.

An Interesting Family

This caricature by Edward Williams Clay depicts President Martin Van Buren as an opossum. The “family” are Thomas Hart Benton, John C. Calhoun, and newspaper editor Francis Preston Blair.

A group of vultures waiting for the storm to “Blow Over”–‘Let Us Prey’

Thomas Nast was perhaps the most well known American cartoonist of the nineteenth century. During the tremendous group of urban areas combined with steady modernization and industrialization, there were many social criticisms to be drawn. Here Nast depicts William “Boss” Tweed and his political gang of supporters as birds of prey picking over the bones of New York City. Tweed was the most famous city “boss” of the New York political machine Tammany Hall.

Swallowed!

This 1900 illustration depicts Populist Party presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan threatening to swallow the Democratic Party donkey mascot. Bryan’s populist run for the White House was seen by this cartoonist as a threat to the election chances of the Democrats, who might normally have captured the votes that were being “eaten” by Bryan’s campaign.

A Good Month’s Business

During times of war, very pointed caricatures are often used as propaganda to sway the public to one side of a political argument. This 1918 poster pulled few punches. It depicted the German nation as stereotypical red-skinned, horned devils happily counting up the results of World War I.

Related Links:

• Learn more about the history of political cartoons by visiting the Web page of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at The Ohio State University.
• Search the Museum’s online database to find political cartoons on subjects you are interested in.

Links to networks Digital Assets:

• Follow this link to open a networks digital asset from our networks United States Government: Our Democracy program. Use the asset to conduct the in-class debate “Should our democracy limit hateful speech?”
• Click on this link to open an asset that examines the question of National Security and Freedom of the Press.

What Do You Think? Look carefully at these historical images. Are any of them particularly shocking to you? Which one is the most inflammatory? Do you think newspapers, magazines, and Web sites would publish similar cartoons today? Have they published worse cartoons than these?