A bitter vilification of the Van Buren administration's use of bloodhounds to hunt fugitive Indians during the Second Seminole War in Florida. The artist condemns the racism and inhumanity of the measure, as well as the role of editor Francis Preston Blair as apologist for the administration. The War Department under Secretary Joel Poinsett was accused of ineptness and cruelty in its conduct of the war--a costly and protracted campaign to subjugate and remove the Seminole Indians from tribal lands in Florida. Public and congressional indignation was stirred in February and March 1840 when the Cuban bloodhounds were first introduced. (The cartoon may date from this time or from as early as 1838 when the idea was first suggested to commanding general Zachary Taylor by Poinsett.) The use of dogs particularly enraged abolitionists, who believed that the animals were really intended for hunting runaway slaves. In the cartoon Poinsett presents a flag that bears the image of an Indian's head carried by a dog. Francis Preston Blair, on his knees, shows the troop of hounds a map of Florida. Blair: "I take pleasure in pointing out to you, my "brethren-"in-arms the seat of a war, the honour of terminating which our master has put in the hands of "our" race. I have no doubt you will all prove like myself--good "collar" men in the cause." Blair's use of the term "collar men" evokes the old colloquialism "collar presses" as a reference to newspapers friendly to the Democratic administration. Poinsett says: "Fellow citizens & soldiers! In presenting this standard to the 1st Regiment of Bloodhounds, I congratulate you on your promotion, from the base & inglorious pursuit of animals, in an uncivilized region like Cuba, to the noble task of hunting "men" in our Christian country! our administration has been reproached for the expense of the Florida war, so we have determined now to prosecute it, in a way that's "dog cheap!" Hence in your "huge paws!" we put the charge of bringing it to a close. Be fleet of foot and keen of nose, or the Indians will escape in "spite" of your "teeth! Dear Blair" here, shows you a map of Florida the theatre of your future deeds. Look to him as the trumpeter of your fame, who will emblazon your acts, as far as the 'Globe' extends, He feels great interest in all his Kith & Kin,' and will therefore transmit your heroism, in "dog"grel verse to remotest posterity!"|Printed & pub: by H.R. Robinson, no. 52 Cortlandt St. N.Y. & Pennsa Avenue Washington D.C.|Signed: Bow Wow-Wow (probably Napoleon Sarony).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 62.|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 1840-5.

An imaginative portrayal of the violent suppression of abolitionist propagandizing and insurrectionism in the South. The print may have been stimulated by several instances during the early 1830s of hanging, tarring and feathering of anti-slavery activists in Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. In 1835 resolutions were passed by various Southern states urging Northern suppression of the abolitionist societies. In the image a judge with ass's ears and a whip, seated on bales of cotton and tobacco with the Constitution underfoot, condemns a white man (an abolitionist) to hanging. The prisoner is roughly dragged by two captors toward a crowd of jubilant men who surround a gallows. In the distance a cauldron of tar boils over an open fire. The text below the image reads: Sentence passed upon one for supporting that clause of our Declaration viz. All men are born free & equal. "Strip him to the skin! give him a coat of Tar & Feathers!! Hang him by the neck, between the Heavens and the Earth!!! as a beacon to warn the Northern Fanatics of their danger!!!!"|The Library's impression of "Southern Ideas of Liberty" is printed on the same sheet as "New Method of Assorting the Mail" (no. 1835-2). Both prints are closer stylistically to lithographs published in Boston, particularly those of J.H. Bufford, than with ones produced in New York or Philadelphia during this period.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 37.|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 1835-3.

In a race between the railroad and the telegraph the "telegraphic candidates," Lewis Cass and William O. Butler, are first to the White House. The artist ridicules Zachary Taylor for his hazy stance on major campaign issues and manages a jibe at the "dead letter" affair as well. (See "The Candidate of Many Parties," no. 1848-24.) Other presidential candidates Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, and a third (possibly John P. Hale) are also in the race, traveling in a small boat, on a horse, and in a wheelbarrow respectively. Taylor and his running mate Millard Fillmore ride a locomotive "Non-Comittal. No Principles." along a track toward the White House (left). Taylor (seated on the engine): "Why Fill, my boy, we must be on the wrong track!" Fillmore (in the cab): "Yes, but if you hadn't dealt so much in the Mail line, it would have been all right!" The "Mail line" is a reference to the dead letter affair. Above them, Cass and Butler walk across telegraphic wires to enter a window of the White House. Cass, holding a sword (a memento of his 1812 military service), declares "I seek the people's eternal happiness!" Butler, holding onto Cass's coattail and thumbing his nose, yells back to Taylor "Zack, for old acquaintance sake I should like you to have been on the right side." Butler, like Taylor, served as a general in the Mexican War. Butler also taunts Van Buren, who ambles along on a scrawny horse at the far right, "O, Marty how are greens?" Van Buren (in a mock-Dutchman's accent): "O, mine got! Shonny! we pe a great deal mush pehind our time!" To the right of the train is a wheelbarrow from which protrude the legs and arms of another contestant, probably Liberty party candidate John P. Hale. A black man, representing abolitionism, lies on the ground beside the cart. Hale: "You d--d lazy niger get up and push along or we shall never get there!" Abolition: "De lor bless us all, me satisfy I go sleepey!" Henry Clay, in a sinking boat on the left, laments, "A pretty pass affairs have come to!" Samuel F. B. Morse had installed the first telegraphic line, linking Baltimore and Washington, in 1844. While still a novelty in 1848, the line may have a metaphorical significance in "The Telegraphic Candidates--&1as the symbolic path between Baltimore, where Cass and Butler were nominated, and Washington. The print must have appeared in the summer of 1848, between the May convention, which nominated Cass and Butler, and Hale's withdrawal from the race in August. Weitenkampf cites a version of the print in the New York Historical Society with the title "Popular Conveyances, or Telegraphic Dispatches for the White House."|Signed in reverse: E.F.D. (E.F. Durang).|Sold by Turner & Fisher, N.Y. & Philada.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 93.|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 1848-41.

A pro-Democrat cartoon forecasting the collapse of Whig opposition to the annexation of Texas. James K. Polk, the expansionist candidate, stands at right near a bridge spanning "Salt River." He holds an American flag and hails Texans Stephen Austin (left) and Samuel Houston aboard a wheeled steamboat-like vessel "Texas." Austin, waving the flag of the Lone Star Republic, cries, "All hail to James K. Polk, the frined [sic] of our Country!" The Texas boat has an eagle figurehead and a star on its prow. Below the bridge pandemonium reigns among the foes of annexation. Holding onto a rope attached to "Texas" above, they are dragged into Salt River. Led by Whig presidential nominee Henry Clay, they are (left to right) Theodore Frelinghuysen, Daniel Webster, Henry A. Wise, and an unidentified figure whose legs are tangled in the rope. Clay: "Curse the day that ever I got hold of this rope! this is a bad place to let go of it--But I must!" Frelinghuysen: "Oh evil day, that ever I got into the footsteps of my predecessor." Webster: "If we let go, we are ruined, and if we hold on--Oh! crackee!" Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, straddling a barrel labeled "Abolition" in the river, shouts at Clay, "Avaunt! unholy man! I will not keep company with a blackleg!" referring to the candidate's reputation as a gambler.|Entered . . . 1844 by James Baillie.|Lithograph and print coloring on reasonable terms by James Baillie No. 33 Spruce St. New York.|Signed: H. Bucholzer.|The Library's impression was deposited for copyright on June 28, 1844.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 83.|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 1844-28.

A satire on the Whig party's anti-annexation platform. The question of whether or not to annex Texas was a large issue separating candidates in the 1844 campaign. Annexation's serious implications for the future of slavery in the United States polarized voters between Polk, who supported it, and Clay, who opposed it. Texas, personified as an elegant and beautiful young woman holding a cornucopia filled with flowers, stands between presidential candidates Clay and Polk. Polk (left) doffs his hat and takes her hand saying, "Welcome, sister, Your Valor has won you liberty and independence, and you have fairly won the right to be identified with 'the land of the brave, and the home of the free.'" She replies, "Shall the slanders that have been urged against your sister, sever those whose blood flows from the same fountain?" George M. Dallas, standing to the left of Polk, comments, "Slandered as she is, let him that is without sin, cast the first stone at her!" Clay (at right, arms folded) piously says, "Stand back, Madam Texas! for we are more holy than thou! Do you think we will have anything to do with gamblers, horse-racers, and licentious profligates?" A Quaker (and possibly an abolitionist) taps Clay on the shoulder and reminds him, "Softly, Softly, friend Harry. Thou hast mentioned the very reason that we cannot Vote for thee!" |Entered . . . 1844 by James Baillie.|Lith & pub. by James Baillie 33 Spruce St. N.Y.|Signed: H. Bucholzer.|The Library's impression was deposited for copyright on June 26, 1844.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 78.|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 1844-27.

The opposition of Northern abolitionists, churchmen, and political figures to enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is criticized in this rare pro-Southern cartoon. In two panels artist Edward Williams Clay illustrates the abolitionist's invocation of a "higher law" against the claim of a slave owner, and the application of the same principle against the Northerner in a case of stolen textiles. In the left panel a slaveholder "Mr. Palmetto" and a federal marshal confront an abolitionist "Mr. Pumpkindoodle" and a garishly dressed, runaway slave "Pompey" in a warehouse or shop interior. On the counter is a copy of the newspaper the "Emancipator." Palmetto: ". . . I've come here to take that fugitive slave who belongs to me, according to the provisions of the U. S. law! Officer do your duty!" Pumpkindoodle (handing a pistol to the slave): "What! seize my African brother! never! I dont recognize any U.S. law! I have a higher law, a law of my own. here Pompey take this pistol and resist to the death! if he attempts to take you!" Pompey (trembling): "Ye yes sa! I'll try, cause brudders [antislavery senator from New York William H.] Seward and [abolitionist William Lloyd] Garrison says its all right; and so does Parson Squash! But I'm mighty feared." Federal marshal: "Whew! I think I'd better make myself scarce!" In the panel on the right, the same abolitionist approaches the seated slaveholder in the latter's shop. A sturdy slave "Cesar" and a grinning attendant stand by. On the counter are several bolts of fabric, labeled "Bay State Shawls," "Cotton Shirting," "Domestic Prints," "Amoskeag Ticks," "Lowels Negro Cloth" and "Hamilton Long Cloth." A copy of the "Charleston Mercury" lies open on Palmetto's lap. Pumpkindoodle: "Look here Mr. Palmetto them 'ere goods is mine! They've been stole from me, and if you dont give 'em up, I'll take the law of the land on you!" Palmetto: ". . . They are fugitives from you, are they? As to the law of the land, I have a higher law of my own, and possession is nine points in the law. I cant cotton to you. Kick out the abolitionist Cesar." Cesar: "Of course Massa. De dam Bobolitionist is the wus enemy we poor niggers have got." |Entered . . . 1851 by E.W. Clay . . . Southern District of N.Y.|Pub. at 152 Nassau St. corner of Spruce N.Y.|Signed with initials: E.W.C. (Edward Williams Clay).|The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright on January 22, 1851.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Century, p. 70.|Weitenkampf, p. 103.|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 1851-5.

A pro-Democrat satire, pitting Democratic candidate Lewis Cass against Whig nominee Zachary Taylor in a bout for the presidency. Cass (center) is the obvious favorite. He wears the stovepipe hat, boots, bold plaid trousers, and soap-locks associated with New York street toughs (or "Bowery B'hoys"). On the front of Cass's shirt is an emblem with the initials "U.S." He grasps Taylor by the hair declaring, "I'm one of the B-Hoys, and I woudn't be anything else!" Taylor, also dressed as a rowdy, cries, "O, enough! I surrender for the first time!" Cass has already dispatched a black man "Abolition," who sits in a basket at the far left, Free Soil candidate Martin Van Buren, on the ground at left, and Whig vice presidential candidate, Millard Fillmore, on the ground at right with a black eye. Abolition: "De lor' have mercy on our souls!" Van Buren: "Johnny [i.e., John Van Buren] come and help your Old Dad!" Fillmore: "Curse the Old hoss wot a south paw he has given me!" At far right, seated on a fire hydrant or standpipe, is Cass's running mate William O. Butler who cheers Cass on saying: "I Say Lewy give him a sockdolger!"|Probably drawn by E.F. Durang.|Sold by Turner and Fisher, New York & Philada.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 91.|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 1848-42.

Garrison, William Lloyd. “To The Public”. The Liberator. January 01, 1831. From Teaching AmericanHistory. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/to-the-public/ (accessed January 19, 2022).Description: First page of the inaugural issue of this anti-slavery newspaper.

The abolitionist Republican presidential ticket and its supporters in the press are the targets of the cartoon. Candidate Fremont, wearing an emigrant's smock and carrying a cross (an allusion to his rumored Catholicism), is in the driver's seat of a wagon drawn by the "wooly nag" of abolitionism. On the nag's back sit (left to right): New York "Tribune" editor Horace Greeley, James Gordon Bennett of the "Herald," and Henry J. Raymond of the "New York Times." Holding onto the back of the wagon is "Courier & Enquirer" editor James Watson Webb. The wagon also carries Fremont's wife Jessie, who holds a parasol and leans on a sack marked "Bleeding Kansas Fund," a reference to hostilities in Kansas between antislavery and proslavery advocates. The wagon has reached the "Union Tollgate" (left), which is tended by Brother Jonathan and an unidentified man. Jonathan warns, "No Sir-ee! you cant come any such load over us." Greeley: "Come my good People open the Gate its all right! We are the true 'Union' Party because we all ride on the wooly Horse." Bennett: "Ever since I mounted behind the old white Coated Philosopher [i.e., Greeley] I find that everything he says can be re-lied on." Raymond: "Except when he calls me "'little Villain'" and then he can't be re-lied on." Fremont laments: "There seems to be something in the road, but those fellows on the Horse, will swear me through anything; so I'll keep mum." Webb: "Hurry up there Horace! or [Southern Democratic Preston S.?] Brooks will be running his Express Train into us; I've had one ride on his Cowcatcher lately, and I don't want another." A ragged boy shouts to the driver, "Cut behind!"|For sale by Nathaniel Currier at No. 2 Spruce St. N.Y.|Probably drawn by Louis Maurer.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Gale, no. 4643.|Murrell, p. 185.|Weitenkampf, p. 117.|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 1856-21.