Monkey and Pig Hybrid Baby Elephant With Blue Eyes
Typical contemporary illustrations of the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant
In a few days, America will elect our next president. It'due south been a especially contentious and divisive campaign, with party lines not then much drawn as carved: cerise states vs. blue states; liberals vs. conservatives; Republicans vs. Democrats. While political party platforms change and politicians adapt their beliefs in response to their constituency and their poll numbers, ane thing has remained consistent for more than 100 years: the political iconography of the autonomous donkey and the republican elephant.
The donkey and elephant first appeared in the mid-19th century, and were popularized by Thomas Nast, a cartoonist working for Harper'south Magazine from 1862-1886. It was a time when political cartoons weren't merely relegated to a sidebar in the editorial page, but actually had the ability to change minds and sway undecided voters by distilling circuitous ideas into more compressible representations. Cartoons had power. And Thomas Nast was a master of the medium, although one who, by all accounts, was churlish, vindictive and fiercely loyal to the Republican political party. In fact, it's said that President Lincoln referred to Nast as his "best recruiting general" during his re-election campaign. These very public "recruiting" efforts led Nast to create the familiar political symbols that take lasted longer than either of the political parties they represent.
The 1870Harpers cartoon credited with associating the donkey and the Autonomous Party
On January xv, 1870, Nast published the cartoon that would forever link the ass to the Democrat. A few ideas should be articulate for the drawing to make sense: First, "republican" and "democrat" meant very different things in the 19th century than they practise today (but that's another commodity entirely); "jackass" pretty much meant the exact same thing then that it does today; and Nast was a vocal opponent of a group of Northern Democrats known equally "Copperheads."
In his cartoon, the ass, continuing in for the Copperhead press, is boot a expressionless lion, representing President Lincoln'southward recently deceased press secretary (Due east.M. Stanton). With this unproblematic but artfully rendered statement, Nast succinctly articulated his belief that the Copperheads, a group opposed the Civil War, were dishonoring the legacy of Lincoln'south administration. The pick of a donkey –that is to say, a jackass– would be clearly understood every bit commentary intended to disparage the Democrats. Nast continue to use the donkey equally a stand-in for Democratic organizations, and the popularity of his cartoons through 1880s ensured that the party remained inextricably tied to jackasses. However, although Thomas Nast is credited with popularizing this association, he was non the showtime to use it as a representation of the Autonomous party.
An 1837 lithograph depicting the first appearance of the Democratic donkey.
In 1828, when Andrew Jackson was running for president, his opponents were fond of referring to him as a jackass (if only such candid discourse were permissible today). Emboldened past his detractors, Jackson embraced the paradigm as the symbol of his campaign, rebranding the donkey as steadfast, determined, and willful, instead of wrong-headed, slow, and obstinate. Throughout his presidency, the symbol remained associated with Jackson and, to a bottom extent, the Democratic party. The association was forgotten, though, until Nast, for reasons of his own, revived it more than 30 years later.
"The Third Term Panic: An ass, having put on the King of beasts's skin, roamed about in the forest, and amused himself by frightening all the foolish Animals he met with in his wanderings." Thomas Nast for Harpers, 1874.
In 1874, in yet another scathing cartoon, Nast represented the Autonomous press as a donkey in lion's vesture (though the party itself is shown as a shy trick), expressing the cartoonist's belief that the media were acting as fear mongers, propagating the idea of Ulysses S. Grant as a potential American dictator. In Nast's donkey-in-lion'southward-clothing cartoon, the elephant –representing the Republican vote– was running scared toward a pit of chaos and inflation. The rationale behind the choice of the elephant is unclear, merely Nast may accept chosen information technology equally the embodiment of a large and powerful creature, though one that tends to be dangerously devil-may-care when frightened. Alternately, the political pachyderm may take been inspired by the now niggling-used phrase "seeing the elephant," a reference to war and a possible reminder of the Union victory. Any the reason, Nast's popularity and consequent employ of the elephant ensured that information technology would remain in the American consciousness as a Republican symbol.
Like Andrew Jackson, the Republican party would eventually embrace the caricature, adopting the elephant as their official symbol. The Democrats, notwithstanding, never officially adopted the donkey equally a symbol. Yet, come election flavour, both animals lose whatever zoological significance in favor of political shorthand. For while candidates may flip and flop, legislation may be stripped or blimp, and political animals may change their stripes, the donkey and elephant remain true.
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/political-animals-republican-elephants-and-democratic-donkeys-89241754/
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