In the late 19th century, the most effective way to reach people was in newspapers and magazines. One of the most creative ways to critique the government and point out issues in America was using cartoons.
The term for this era is the "Gilded Age"-coined by author Mark Twain. "Gilded" refers to something that looks shiny and nice on the outside but on the inside is a mess. Twain used this phrase to refer to America because, on the outside, America was expanding and business was booming. Large cities were being built and new technologies developed. But...at what cost? Immigrants, poor city folk and rural farmers, Native Americans and African Americans were all being treated very harshly at this time.
For this week's blog, do a Google search on "Gilded Age Political Cartoons". Find one you think is interesting and do some research on it. Figure out who drew it, when it was drawn and what it means.
For the comment section, answer the following prompts.
1-Who drew your cartoon?
2-Which magazine/newspaper published it?
3-When was it published?
4-Which Gilded Age issue did it address? (Business, Immigration, Politics etc.)
5-Describe what is in the cartoon and what it mean.
You need to post the image in your comments OR paste a link so I can look up the cartoon.
Remember to reach at least 200 words as you are answering the prompts.
This weeks blog is about “Gilded Age Political Cartoons". The cartoon i choose has to do with low wages and high rent. it has Pullman pushing down on something that on one half says “low wages”with a man in the middle and not the other end says “high rent”. I can’t find who actually drew this cartoon but it was published in the Chicago Labor Newspaper and the point was to critics the Pullman Company. This cartoon was published in the newspaper in 1894. i think this cartoon has to do with all sorts of things. The people were getting mad and upset that they were being payed next to nearly nothing but yet anything and everything they wanted to do was so heavily priced. They said this cartoon was around the Progressive Era and the New Deal years. Around this time there were higher taxes, stricter regulations on business’ and etc. This cartoon was for the people who thought it was un fair to do this. The government kept giving and taking away rights and the people had had enough of it. They wanted equal pay that would match up with how much things were beginning to cost. The cartoon represents how the people felt during this era. (210)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe cartoon I chose is a portrait of the well known JP Morgan. This cartoon pictures him sitting on a stack of bags full of money. Because he was in the banking industry and also he was very wealthy. The wildcat hangout drew this cartoon. This was published in 1960. This cartoon addresses the issue that very wealthy people takes over one industry and they get so into their money that they treat their workers not so great( 200)
DeleteThe cartoon that I found the most interesting was about the standard oil company. The cartoon showed an octopus with its tentacles branching out grabbing other stuff. The cartoon was drawn by Kepler and was published by Puck in New York in 1904. The gilded age issue this dealt with was business related because it shows the growth of the oil industry. The cartoon was drawn to show how the oil company was growing and branching out to different industries also the many tentacles on the octopus show how there were many hands inside of the oil company. The octopus looks to be branching out to steal,copper,shipping industry,state House,U.S Capital and there is one tentacle not on the White House but reaching for it like it is trying to get a grip on it. All of these places that the tentacles are on shows 5he strong grip the oil industry had on them and also shows that without a tight grip they might not have them. So this points that there was a lot of conflict with trying to control everything that they did. So in conclusion the oil industry had control of many places but had to fight hard to keep those places and could of been trying to gain control of the White House. (221)
ReplyDeleteLink toCartoon: https://www.google.com/amp/s/thomasnastcartoons.com/2015/01/06/throwing-down-the-ladder-by-which-they-rose-23-july-1870/amp/
ReplyDelete1. Who drew your cartoon?
This political cartoon is entitled “Throwing Down the Ladder by Which They Rose” and was drawn by Thomas Nast.
2. Which magazine/newspaper published it? The Thomas Nast political cartoon was published in Harper’s Weekly magazine.
3. When was it published? This political cartoon was published July 23, 1870.
4. Which Gilded Age issue did it address? (Business, Immigration, Politics etc.)
This political cartoon addresses the issue of emigrates coming from China and other oriental nations.
5. Describe what is in the cartoon and what it means.
As we learned in the Ellis Island Tour, there was massive immigration from Europe in the mid-1800s into the mid-1900s. This political cartoon is directed at emigrates coming from China to settle in the western coastal states. It shows emigrants from China being turned away by those same Europeans who were allowed to immigrate to the United States; a move that lifted the Europeans out of poverty and religious persecution. Nast’s political cartoons often showed Irish immigrants in a very negative way. China is famous for the Great Wall of China which isolated that empire from their enemies on their northern border. The cartoon shows a wall labeled as The “Chinese Wall” Around the United States of America. To the viewer, this “Chinese Wall” shows that China believed in walls; therefore, so should the United States. The ladder is labeled “Emigration” and it shows the path to get into America. Note that the last European immigrant makes the ladder fall so that no one else can follow his path. All the people at the bottom of the wall on the outside are unable to get over the wall because the ladder is down. They are shown in typical Chinese dress for that era and all the people on top of the wall are in typical European dress for that era. The flag on the top right shows the message “Know-Nothings 1870 Pres. Patrick” and “Vice Pres. Hans.” The Know Nothings, were a secret but popular group of Americans who protested newcomers. (251)
1. Who drew your cartoon
ReplyDeleteMy cartoon”When Mckinly is President” was created by J.S. Pughe
2.Which magazine or newspaper published it.
The cartoon was published by Keppler & Schwarzmann on 1896 April 29.
3. when was it published
It was published on 1896 April 29.
4. Which gilded age issue did this address
This carton addressed the issue of the interrelation between business and government.
5. Describe what is in the cartoon and what it means.
The cartoon is set at the front of the White House at an angle providing a view of the steps and door. The door has a sign on on it that says White House. The two main characters on this comic are a fat man on suit with a hat that says monopoly, and Uncle Sam . Located next to that door is a man who looks like a servant of whom is bowing with his arm out implying it’s his honor for the fat man to enter. The fat man is walking up the stairs to the door seemingly looking at the viewer with a cigar in his mouth looking especially proud and conniving. Behind him is Uncle Sam sitting under a pillar looking concearned and and worried with his hands in his lap. The fat business man wearing the suit with the cigar in his mouth is symbolic of President Mckinly. In this comic Uncle Sam is symbolic of the working American and their way way of life. Uncle Sam’s hands in his lap along with the unhopeful look of his face seem to be conveying that theirs nothing he (the American employee and culture) can do about President McKinley’s pioneering of monopolies which are portaged as harmful towards the American people consequently. Mckinly’s attire is also oddly symbolic in this cartoon. Of course his hat that says monopoly is representative of his helping monopolies inthe U.S. , but the rest of his outfit compliments that. That being his suit and internal components and accessories. One of which being his cane whcih shows the fact that he is old unfit man who is not capable of doing manual labor. Which portays a sense of hypocrisy since most monopoly owners and large businesses-men made their money through hard 1000’s of intense manual laborers. This being further reinforced by the cigar he seems to be slightly pushing out of his mouth since nowadays smoking products are associated with not caring about one’s health but yet in this sense it’s conveying the fact that he’s wealthy and is doing some bad for his health purely for pleasure since he has not many other concearned due to health. The other main component of his outfit being his suit which he seems to be pulling tight showing it off in a haughty way in correlation to his face. In consequence of the symbolism being revealed this cartoon depicts a rich hypocritical lazy President Mckinly destroying the American way of life through supporting monopolies.
(497)
“That’s what’s the matter”
ReplyDeletehttps://www.historyonthenet.com/authentichistory/1865-1897/1-reconstruction/3-tweed/index.html
This cartoon was drawn by Thomas Nast
This cartoon was published by Harper's weekly
This cartoon was published in 1871
This cartoon shows a man named boss tweed addressing and helping in the issue of immigration. It shows how basically one man is showing a very strong role and putting off the vibes that he is leading the polls right now.
This means Tweed is doing a good thing but not for the right reasons . Whenever he helped the immigrants his reward was their votes for the presidential election. That was a tactical move for tweed. Every immigrant he helped he got their vote but he also got their family and friends vote. This put tweed on the top of the presidential election polls. He would also keep control of the vote counting so he made sure the polls were in him favor. With the help of his power and popularity he was able to “put fees on companies, favoring one person over another or controlling the actions of tax assessors.” Which means he didn’t cheat the polls but he played dirty.
(210)
1.The cartoon is called “Under The Thumb” and it was drawn by Thomas Nast.
ReplyDelete2.The cartoon was published in the “Harper’s Weekly”, a political magazine based in New York City.
3.The cartoon was published on August 19th, 1871.
4.The issues that the cartoon addresses is political.
5.The cartoon depicts the thumb of William Tweed (the senator of New York at the time) crushing New York in the background meaning that he has it under his complete control. In the foreground it shows New Jersey thriving and prospering with public schools, homes, trade, and industries. There is a quote at the bottom of the cartoon from “The Boss”(Tweed’s nickname at the name was The Boss) stating “Well, what are you going to do about it!”. This shows that Tweed knows that he knows what he is doing, and knows that he can get rid of any threat as he sees fit. Tweed was the “boss” of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a huge role in politics in the 19th century in controlling New York City and State politics along immigrants, mainly Irish immigrants, rise in political power. Thanks to Nast, Tweed was voted out of power in the election of November 7th, 1871 and Tweed was later arrested in 1873 and convicted of fraud(218)
1. My painting is called “What a funny little government ” it is a painting by the artist Horace Taylor.
ReplyDelete2. The news company The Verdict produced this in a 1899 edition of the newspaper.
3. It was published on September of 1899
4. This address how at the time the oil and steel industries ran the nation instead of the government.
5. This means that Rockefeller was a more powerful man the the people in the government at the time of this, the picture shows him holding the White House in his hand, and it shows him peeking on the government members in the White House. In the background you can see the capital building with smoke coming from it, this picture is showing that the oil and steel industry was the most important industry in America at the time. It is showing that he is big enough to do as he pleases, and that he almost owns them in a sense. It is showing also that the skies were almost always covered in smoke back in that era, the oil and steel industry produced a lot of smoke from the factories and poluted the skies. The capital showing smoke coming out of it I think means that maybe even the government was involved in that industry a little bit, and that they had a little bit of a say in what happened in the factories and plants. All in all this photo is showing how big this industry was, and how the big names in this industry also pretty much ran America at the time. (204)
https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Washington-as-Seen-by-the-Trusts-Political-Cartoon
Thomas nast
ReplyDeleteNew york times
The late 1800’s
The leaked financial reports of boss tweed
The cartoon i chose depicts boss tweed with a bag of money for a head. The cartoon shows how corrupt and manipulative boss tweed was with his tactics and other things. Tweed was a former street brawler who made his way into politics by serving minor roles as a politician though he never served as mayor he was able to use the roles he served to be the biggest and most powerful politician in new york. His political group known has “the ring” collected millions of dollars in illegal graft. Tweed was ultimately brought down by newspaper reporting mainly in the new york times but a famous political cartoon artist named thomas nast also played a part in the downfall of tweed by keeping the public focused on the misdeeds of tweed and his gang of followers. Nast had first gained fame from drawing civil war cartoons and cartoons for abraham lincoln. The tammany hall which was started as a political club quickly dominated new york by the middle of the 19th century and was pretty much the office that functioned as the city's government.
https://images.app.goo.gl/PEXhCu9btVHxQHQt5
Delete1.) Who drew your cartoon? Mayer Merkel & Ottmann lith
ReplyDelete2.) Who published it? Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann,
3.) When was it published? February 7th, 1883.
4.) Which issue does it address? Business and politics.
5.) Describe what the cartoon is and what it means.
My Cartoon is “The Protectors of our Industries.” It shows Cyrus Field, Jay Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Russell Sage, seated on bags of "millions", on large raft, and being carried by a bunch of different kinds of workers. The raft is in the middle of the ocean, and the ocean is labeled “hard times,” which in my opinion is meaning that Sage, Vanderbilt, Field, and Gould have it easy during those hard times cause there be carried. The workers though are carrying the rich powerful men and are getting dirty while doing so. On the raft there’s also a bunch of stuff labeled like paper, lumber, linen, etc..., and it’s basically saying that the rich me had do nothing in there lives because all the hard work was being done by their poor workers. (207)
https://out.reddit.com/t3_4vg2ew?url=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FzlOFTP0.jpg&token=AQAAbn-RXbQeGI5-g1vr0bBR6GkWpLgm0mXnuctt-RUHqm_dVKWp&app_name=mweb2x
Thomas Nast’s cartoon appeared in 1871, Tweed’s imperium was dissolving, and the cartoonists had done a great deal to propel the Boss toward destruction. Even today, when most political cartoons from a century ago may seem bland and quaint, Nast’s still have plenty of sting to them. If effectiveness is the measure of political cartooning, they have never been beaten. They came out from the pages of Harper’s Weekly all through the summer and fall of 1871, and in the end they brought their target down. While Tweed as Caesar watches the arena unmoved. Mark Twain called the late nineteenth century the "Gilded Age." By this, he meant that the period was shining on the surface but corrupt underneath. In the popular view, the late nineteenth century was a period of greed and fraud. It was a period of greedy Robber Barons, untrustworthy speculators, and corporate buccaneers, of shady business practices, politics plagued by scandals, and offensive display. The Gilded Age was an era of intense political partisanship It was also an era of reform. Political cartoons were very popular in these years, partly because of new technologies of mass circulation. The period saw an increase of millions of European immigrants. (202)
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