A derisive view of Andrew Jackson's reluctant, politically-minded endorsement of the Distribution Act, or "Surplus Bill," a measure authorizing distribution of surplus federal funds among the states. Facing the prospect of an almost certain Congressional override should he veto the bill, Jackson signed it on June 23, 1836, abetting Vice-President Van Buren's bid for the presidency that year. The cartoon shows Jackson (right), Van Buren (left) and Van Buren running-mate Richard M. Johnson, seated at a table pondering the bill. Jackson (with a quill in his teeth, and a spittoon or brazier by his feet): What the devil shall I do Matty, with this Bill? if I veto it the cursed Whigs are strong enough to pass it!! Van Buren (head in hand): We are in a bad box General; I'm dead against giving away a dollar, but as you say, needs must when the devil drives!! Kendall/Johnson: It's hard to part with our Surplus, but the people are too strong for us!! The print is evidently a reversed copy of a print by the same title published by H. R. Robinson in June 1836 at 48 Courtlandt Street.|Printed & publ by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt Strt. N-York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Davison, no. 71.|Weitenkampf, p. 41.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1836-9.

This kit provides teachers and other educators with the materials and guidance to help fourth grade students understand the reasons that the British colonists elected to declare their independence from King George III between the years 1763-1776. As a part of these lessons students will be encouraged to consider the intent and impact of media documents from a variety of points of view including those of the colonists, King George, patriots, loyalists, slaves and Native Americans.

A mild satire on Jackson and his Cabinet, portraying in imaginative terms a White House reception of popular French dancer and actress Madame Celeste. Seated in chairs in a White House parlor are six cabinet members. In the center Jackson sits behind a table, as "Door Keeper" Jimmy O'Neal (standing) presents Madame Celeste. The cabinet members are (left to right): Secretary of the Navy Mahlon Dickerson, Attorney General Benjamin F. Butler, Secretary of War Lewis Cass, Postmaster General Amos Kendall, Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury, and Vice-President Martin Van Buren. Each figure's remarks are an amusing reflection of his own character or reputation. Dickerson: I never felt the inconvenience of being a bachelor untill now. what I have lost!! she as gracefull as a Seventy-four under full sail. Cass: This is a very strange introduction to the Cabinet when weighty matters are under discussion; but it does not become me to complain. Jimmy O'Neal: O' she'll bother them all by the powers faith, except my friend Kendal he has no soule for a pretty woman... Celeste: Mon General, if it is "glory enough" to serve under you "ma foi" vat is my grand satisfaction to see you wis de Grand Cabinet of dis Grand Nation here assamble. Jackson: Charming Creature. I've not lost all my penchant for pretty women .... Kendall: I wonder how the General could ever prefer the heels to the head. He never learnt that from me. But the least said the soonest mended. Woodbury: She has grace enough to dance all the surplus Revenue out of the Treasury Hasn't she, Mr. Attorney general? Butler: She is well enough, but I have conscientious scruples on these matters. Van Buren: Pooh pooh Butler, this is not the age for scruples of any kind. I like her rapid movements, her quick changes, her gracefull transitions. She is of my school ..." Weitenkampf's association of the cartoon with the Peggy Eaton affair of 1831, where several cabinet members resigned, is mistaken since the cabinet shown here consists of later appointees. The print appears from the style and monogram to be the work of lithographic draftsman Albert Hoffay.|Entered . . . 1836 by H.R. Robinson.|Published April 1836 by H.R. Robinson 48 Cortlandt St. N.Y.|Signed: A.H. (A.A. Hoffay?).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Century, p. 40.|Weitenkampf, p. 40.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1836-6.

This site includes documents from the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention and ratification debates, and the first two federal congresses. These documents record American history in the words of those who built our government.

A satire critical of New York "Courier and Enquirer" editor, James Watson Webb for his journalistic assaults on exiled Hungarian revolutionary leader Louis Kossuth. Weitenkampf dates the cartoon 1852, but it may have appeared as early as December 1851, when Kossuth landed in New York for a much-publicized visit to seek American diplomatic and financial support for Hungary. His visit caused a sensation and he was greeted enthusiastically by most Americans, and was particularly embraced by libertarians and free-soilers. Webb's newspaper, however, was highly critical of Kossuth and his attempts to embroil the United States in the European conflict. Webb strides down the street, with his back to the viewer and a copy of the "Courier & Enquirer" with the headline "Kossuth," protruding from his back pocket. To the left a young apprentice at the entrance of a blacksmith shop points out Webb to his master, who is at work inside. He says, "Say! Boss! he's a comein, yer told me to call yer when he went past, it's the man what wrote all that Stuf agin the Hungarians." The blacksmith looks up and exclaims, "Good Gracious! here Bill, work this bellows here for a minute til I see that man, I wouldn't miss having a good look at that man for a new ten cent peice he must be a curiosity." To the right, two small children and a crowd of people watch Webb pass by, among them a tall man closely resembling Kossuth.|Drawn by John L. Magee.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 112.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1852-2.

Confederate president Jefferson Davis's capture by Union cavalry on May 10, 1865, while allegedly fleeing in women's clothing, inspired a rash of prints exploiting the tale's comic possibilities. According to Davis's autobiography, at the time of his capture he was wearing his wife's raglan overcoat, which he had mistakenly put on in his haste to leave, and a shawl, which his wife had thrown over his head and shoulders. The Northern press made the most of his "last shift," transforming the shawl to a bonnet, and sometimes even portraying Davis wearing a hoopskirt and full female dress. Since Davis had apparently tried to escape casually with a black servant carrying water, he was often pictured carrying a water bucket. Another detail added by the cartoonists was a Bowie knife. Here the artist shows a camp in the woods where Davis, wearing a dress, shawl, and bonnet, and carrying a water bucket labeled "Mom Davis" and a Bowie knife, is accosted by Union soldiers. One Union soldier (center) lifts Davis's skirt with his saber mocking, "Well, "old mother," boots and whiskers hardly belong to a high-toned Southern lady." Davis implores, "I only wish to be let alone." At right another soldier, speaking in a Germanic accent, says, "Mein Gott, ter "olt mutter" vears ter pig gavalrie poots! . . . " He may be intended to represent the Norwegian-born tanner who first spotted Davis. The soldier at left exclaims, "Jerusalem! her "old Mother," hey! Its ld "Leach'" in petticoats--That's so." Behind Davis a woman warns, "Do not provoke tĚ_Ąhe President,' he might hurt some one." A black youth, presumably Davis's servant, looks on, exclaiming, "Golly Marse Yank, de old Missus is "done gone" shu-ah! . . ." At far right a waiting Confederate carriage containing barrels of "Whiskey" and "Stolen Gold" is visible. This impression was deposited for copyright on June 5, 1865, less than a month after Davis's capture. |Entered . . . 1865 by Oscar H. Harpel, (Opera House, Cincinnati) Ohio.|Signed: Design by Burgoo Zac|Title appears as it is written on the item.|"The Confederate Image," p. 85.|Weitenkampf, p. 150.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1865-11.

Entered according to the Act of Congress by William Kelly, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of the City of New York.|Inscribed in ink above image: Deposited Novr. 6th 1832.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

A deceptive broadside, ostensibly a pro-McClellan campaign piece but actually a piercing attack on the Democratic platform. In the center is a portrait of Democratic presidential candidate George B. McClellan standing aboard a ship, watching the Battle of Malvern Hill--the culminating defeat of his disastrous Peninsular Campaign. (See "The Gunboat Candidate," no. 1864-17.) Beneath the print's title "The Chicago Platform" is a subheading "Union Failures" above a cannon flanked by tattered American flags. Each Democratic platform resolution is illustrated with a vignette which supports its reverse. The top left scene shows a black man chased by bloodhounds, above the tenet "Resolved, that in the future, as in the past, we will adhere with unswerving fidelity to the Union under the Constitution as the only solid foundation of our strength." At the upper right is a polling scene, above which appears the Democratic resolution condemning the "interference of the military authority of the United States in the recent elections held in Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Delaware." In the scene balloting proceeds under the protection of federal soldiers. Citizens loyal to the Union vote, while an obviously unruly Irishman is barred. Other scenes are (middle register, left to right): "The Constitution Itself Has Been Disregarded." Abraham Lincoln displays his Emancipation Proclamation to a group of black men and women. (Continuing from left): ". . . In Every part, and Public Liberty and Private Right." A picture shows the New York draft riots of 1863, where one man clubs another while a young boy dances. A simian Irishman holds a black child upside down by his foot and is about to strike him with a club. Fires rage in the background. "Resolved That the Aim And Object of the Democratic Party is to Preserve the Federal Union and the Rights of the States Unimpaired . . . . " One scene shows a black woman sold at a slave auction, and another scene portrays two white men flogging a black man, as an overseer watches approvingly. The bottom register shows scenes of the war, Southern soldiers bowing to President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis, a Union graveyard, "Rebels in the North" or spies being arrested, and so on. The lengthy text below includes excerpts from McClellan's letter accepting the Democratic nomination, and from his running mate George Hunt Pendleton's speech in Congress calling for a reconciliation with the South or the peaceful acceptance of its secession.|Signed: Th Nast.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1864-22.

Although printed in Philadelphia, the sheet music on which this illustrated cover appears is clearly Southern in sympathy. Within an ornate acanthus framework is a large palmetto tree, symbol of South Carolina. Beneath the tree, in a hilly landscape, sits a winged female figure playing a harp. Below the main scene is a small vignette of Barhamville, the South Carolina Collegiate Female Institute, near Columbia, South Carolina. Founded in 1828 by Elias Marks (the author of the lyrics of "Chicora"; the music was composed by A. Hatschek, another professor at Barhamville), the school was a distinguished institution of higher education for women. Marks left the school in June 1861 and retired to Washington, D.C. The music sheet may have been issued from there.|Copyright secured. |Drawn by F. Roeth.|Entered . . . 1861 by C.B. Estran . . . District Court of Virginia.|Thomas Sinclair's lith. Phila.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1861-25.

Designed for use by teachers, students, historians, and general users, the site features hundreds of documents and images about children in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, drawn from newspapers, government and other official records, oral histories and memoirs, and many other sources.

Created through a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, Chronicling America offers visitors the ability to search and view newspaper pages from 1690-1963 and to find information about American newspapers published between 1690"“present using the National Digital Newspaper Program.

The collection of documents brought together in this project begins to tell the story of the growth of Protestant religion among African Americans during the nineteenth century, and of the birth of what came to be known as the "Black Church" in the United States. This development continues to have enormous political, spiritual, and economic consequences. But perhaps what is most apparent in these texts is the diversity of ways in which that religious tradition was envisioned, experienced, and implemented. From the white Baptist and Methodist missionaries sent to convert enslaved Africans, to the earliest pioneers of the independent black denominations, to black missionaries in Africa, to the eloquent rhetoric of W.E.B. DuBois, the story of the black church is a tale of variety and struggle in the midst of constant racism and oppression. It is also a story of constant change, and of the coincidence of cultural cohesion among enslaved Africans and the introduction of Protestant evangelicalism to their communities.

Parody of a public notice, dated June 20, 1828, reporting an assault on American Zionist, playwright, and editor Mordecai Manuel Noah by Elijah J. Roberts. In the text Noah petitions that Roberts "be bound by recognizance to be of good behavior and keep the peace, and to answer for the above assault, &c. at the next Court of General Sessions of the Peace . . . ." A vignette illustration portrays a diminutive figure of Roberts attacking a much larger Noah on the steps of New York's Park Theatre. A playbill on the wall behind them advertises "The Jew," "1 Act of the Hypocrite," and "End with the farce of The Liar." At this time Noah was editor of the "New York Enquirer."|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1828-1.

This lesson plan attempts to dissolve the artificial boundary between domestic and international affairs in the postwar period to show students how we choose to discuss history.

The images in this collection are drawn from the New-York Historical Society's rich archival collections that document the Civil War. They include recruiting posters for New York City regiments of volunteers, stereographic views documenting the mustering of soldiers and of popular support for the Union in New York City, photography showing the war's impact, both in the North and South, and drawings and writings by ordinary soldiers on both sides.

This site features detailed battle maps made by Major Jedediah Hotchkiss for General Lee and General Sherman, and maps taken from diaries, scrapbooks, and manuscripts -- all available for the first time in one place. An essay, History of Mapping the Civil War, looks at Union maps, Confederate maps, battlefield maps, commercial maps, and others.

Four vignette cartoon shows Brother Jonathan kicking the confederacy, Napoleon III, and Emperor Maximillian, represented by animals, with his "iron-clad" boots. In the next vignette, Brother Jonathan fills the feed dish of the American eagle with yellow pills, from which the bird produces specie, "green backs." In the third vignette, men ride horses which have the heads of Abraham Lincoln, John Charles Fremont, Pomeroy and Gilbert. The journalist, Horace Greeley, is thrown from his mount. They head toward Richmond. In the fourth vignette, titled, "The Yankee rooster converting English blockade runners into iron-clads and monitors," the rooster consumes English blockade runners and turns them into iron-clads and monitors through the process of elimination.|Lithograph by G.W. Lascell.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Another Whig campaign satire, picturing incumbent Martin Van Buren and his Democratic advisers or "Kitchen Cabinet" routed by Whig candidate William Henry Harrison. In a domestic kitchen Harrison, dressed as a scullery maid, raises a "buttermilk dasher" against a party of fleeing Democrats. The fugitives are (left to right, standing): Secretary of War Joel Poinsett, Postmaster General Amos Kendall, Washington "Globe" editor Francis Preston Blair (arms outstretched, looking left), Secretary of State John Forsyth, John Calhoun, Levi Woodbury, and Van Buren. Thomas Hart Benton (left) and Alabama Representative Dixon H. Lewis, a States Rights Democrat, have fallen to the floor. Harrison: "Gentlemen as you don't like hard Cider I will give you a taste of the Buttermilk Dasher." Van Buren: "This is worse than the Rebellion in Vermount!" Poinsett: "If you had followed my advice we would have had by this time our Standing Army of 200,000 men." Blair: "I shall leave the Globe!" Forsyth: "I shall never be Vice President." Calhoun: "I am for the South direct." Woodbury: "I can issue no more Treasury Notes!" On the far left a bespectacled man with plaited hair (Pennsylvania Democratic congressman David Petrikin) holds up his hand and says, "I object." The man lamenting his lost hopes for the vice presidency has been previously identified as Alabama Senator William Smith. Yet comparison of the likeness here with Charles Fenderich's 1840 lithographed portrait of Secretary of State John Forsyth confirms identification of the man as that cabinet member. The print is most probably by Napoleon Sarony, showing the same distinctive, patterned cross-hatching and broad crayon-work as his "The New Era or the Effects of a Standing Army "(no. 1840-3). "Clar de Kitchen" was the title of a popular dance song of Negro minstrel comic T.D. Rice.|Entered . . . 1840 by H.R. Robinson.|Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. N.Y. & Pennsa Avenue Washington D.C.|Signed: Boneyshanks (probably Napoleon Sarony).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Blaisdell & Selz, no. 17.|Century, p. 54-55.|Weitenkampf, p. 64.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-44.

An earlier state or proof of number 1844-6, this impression is printed on silk and lacks the "Hoboken Clay Club" overprinting. (The scrolls are left blank.)|Entered . . . 1844 . . . Southern District of New-York, by R. Hemming, 31 Maiden Lane, N. Y.|This proof was deposited for copyright on June 3, 1844.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1844-7.

Print shows a Whig campaign banner composed of a pattern of alternating red and white stripes reminiscent of the American flag. On each of the four white stripes appears the name of a Whig candidate for the 1844 election. These include Henry Clay, vice-presidential hopeful Theodore Frelinghuysen, and the names "Markle," and "Stewart."|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1844-10.