This collection uses primary sources to compare American responses to Pearl Harbor and September 11. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

The National Union Convention met in Philadelphia in August 1866 to create a political party that would back President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction program and to elect a new Congress. Here, the convention is portrayed as a gathering of muzzled dogs, their collars inscribed with state names, who file toward a large doghouse, the "Wigwam." Except for the unwelcome arrival of Copperheads or Peace Democrats Fernando Wood and C. L. Vallandigham, the meeting was surprisingly harmonious even with the participation of representatives from both North and South. Here two dogs, "Massachusetts" and "South Carolina," side by side, lead the pack toward the Wigwam. Wood and Vallandigham are portrayed as cats, each held by the scruff of its neck by guard dogs Edgar Cowan and J. R. Doolittle. At bottom left stands a dog with a brush and a pail marked "N.Y. Times" tied to its tail. In the background "The Dead Dog of The White House," incumbent Andrew Johnson, lies in the road in front of the presidential mansion, which flies from its roof an American flag labeled "My Policy." "My Policy" was Johnson's campaign catchword. The Philadelphia movement ultimately failed, and anti-Johnson Republicans achieved more than a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress. |Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 154.|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 1866-4.

Again partisan bitterness, over the perceived Whig betrayal of Henry Clay's hopes for the presidential nomination and over subsequent efforts to obtain Clay's endorsement of Zachary Taylor's candidacy, is vented in this scene. The "available" label is applied in a pejorative sense, suggesting a party whose choice of a candidate was guided not by principles but by public image or popularity. Henry Clay is seated at a desk before three men who present him with a document that reads: "MR. CLAY, we have called on you to humbly request that you will state to your Friends, that you approve of the Philadelphia Convention, and that you Endorse General Taylor as a good Whig." William V. Brady, former mayor of New York City, stands closest to Clay and explains, "Mr. Clay while I was Mayor of the City of New York I used all the Influence I had to have you nominated, you have always been my first choice." Seated in a chair at far right is Senator John J. Crittenden, who urges Brady to tell Clay ". . . that he was our first Choice." Standing next to Brady, holding the endorsement document, is James Watson Webb, publisher of the New York "Courier & Enquirer. " He warns, "hold your tounge [sic] Crittenden you will ruin every thing." Clay responds to their request, "Gentlemen I cannot endorse a note that the drawer himself has not signed," a cunning reference to Taylor's well-known reluctance to specifically commit himself to Whig principles. Portraits of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson hang on the wall behind Clay. |Drawn by "W.J.C."|Entered . . . 1848 by H.R. Robinson.|Published by H.R. Robinson 31, Park Row directly opposite the Park Fountain, adjoining Lovejoys Hotel.|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 1848-23.

The artist predicts a decisive Whig victory in the presidential election of 1848, with Whig candidate Zachary Taylor "bagging" all of the states in an electoral sweep. (Taylor actually carried only fifteen of the thirty states.) A kneeling Taylor (left) gathers fallen pigeons, each bearing a state's name, into a bag. Holding up the New York bird he muses, "My purpose would be suited without this fellow, however I'll take him: the more the merrier for the 4th of March next." Taylor's strength in New York was considered questionable before the election. Standing to the right is Lewis Cass with a musket at his side. Looking over at Taylor, he marvels, "What an all devouring appetite the fellow has: I expect he'll bag me in the bargain!" In the background Martin Van Buren is caught by the seat of his trousers on the nails of a fence. Holding a rooster labeled "Proviso" he cries, "Cass, come and help an old crony won't you!" Peering over from behind the fence is Pennsylvania congressman David Wilmot, author of the Wilmot Proviso, who threatens Van Buren with a switch, "I'll teach you to come ta robbing my barn!" Van Buren and the Barnburner Democrats adopted the proviso, which barred slavery in American territory gained in the Mexican War, as the main plank in their 1848 campaign platform.|Probably drawn by E.F. Durang.|Pubd. by Able [i.e., Peter E. Abel] & Durang. Philada.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 97.|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 1848-46.

Reflecting Whig preelection confidence in the campaign of 1844, the artist portrays that party's ascendancy over the Democrats in the race for the presidency. Bucholzer uses the metaphor of a hot-air balloon race between Whig candidates Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen (on the right) and Democratic nominee James K. Polk. The Whigs ascend with ease; Clay waves a flag and Frelinghuysen points toward the "Presidential Chair" which appears at left on a bed of clouds. The Democratic balloon fails to rise for lack of gas and is prodded with a cane by Andrew Jackson. Jackson says, "I'll use my best endeavours to "poke" [i.e., "Polk"] it up. But it's harder work than gaining the battle of New Orleans!" In the balloon's carriage (actually a wooden tub) are Polk, a Loco Foco Democrat (looking upward through a telescope), and a bag of "Mint drops" (symbolizing the hard-money policies pursued by the Democrats). The carriage is supported by party stalwarts Thomas Hart Benton and John C. Calhoun. Polk says: "I think my friends have placed me in a very ridiculous position! They set me up here only to "poke" fun at me." Calhoun warns: "Push hard, Benton, or they'll never get any higher." Benton: "I'm afraid they'll have to throw the mint drops overboard!" From above, Clay offers: "Throw us a line, Polk, and we'll give you a tow!" Meanwhile, in the background a fox with the head of Martin van Buren slinks away saying, "If you had had the wit to put me in there, it would have gone up." He voices his disappointment at not being chosen Democratic nominee.|Entered . . . 1844 by James Baillie.|Lith. & pub. by James Baillie 33 Spruce St. N.Y.|Signed: H. Bucholzer.|The Library has two states of the print, one a proof before title (Landauer Collection; LC-USZ62-90665). The titled impression was deposited for copyright on June 26, 1844. It was followed two weeks later by the same artist's "Bursting the Balloon" (no. 1844-33), a companion piece or sequel.|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 1844-32.

An illustrated sheet music cover for a "Patriotic Song. Written, to be sung at Baltimore during the Young Men's Whig Convention" of May 1840. The composer is identified as "a Pennsylvanian." The illustration, like the song itself, celebrates the distinguished military record of Whig presidential candidate William Henry Harrison. A ring of smoke issues from two cannons and frames the central view of a log cabin in the wilderness. Outside the house are a cider barrel, a plough, a covered wagon, and (in the foreground) an ox cart and driver. Superimposed on the smoke ring are nine ovals containing scenes from Harrison's military career. They are (counterclockwise from bottom): Ensign Harrison 19 years of age" "Lieut. Harrison at Maumee Rapids" "Govr. Harrison making a treaty with the Sacke & Fox Indians" "Genl. Harrison hastening at night to the assistance of Genl. Winchester" "Harrison's Victory at the Thames" "Harrison's Victory at Tippecanoe" "Genl. Harrison & his Army going into winter quarters at the Maumee Rapids, in 1812" "Genl.Harrison in 1812 at the Head of 7000 Troops" "Genl. Harrison at the Council of Vincennes with Tecumseh." At the top of the oval is a bust of Harrison flanked by flags, muskets, bayonets, and fasces. Over his head hovers a dove holding a star.|Entered . . . 1840 by Ld. Meignen & Co.|Leopold. Meignen & Co. Publishers & Importers of Music.|On Stone by James Queen.|P.S. Duval, Lith Phila.|The Library's impression of the print is damaged slightly, with a tear running through the log house.|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 1840-11.

Caricature of Fanny Elssler, in carriage being drawn by men with ears of jackasses, going to Baltimore.|Signed in stone: HB.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Lith. & pub. by H.R. Robinson 142 Nassau St. N. York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

A satire on the Barnburners, a radical faction of New York State Democrats, led by John Van Buren, whose commitment to social and monetary reforms was likened to a farmer's burning his barn to rid it of rats. Here the barn is ablaze, trapping several of the movement's leaders on its roof. Benjamin F. Butler, raising his arms, vows, "If I ever get out of this scrape safe it's the last act of Barn burning that I'll be guilty of." New York "Evening Post" editor and radical spokesman William Cullen Bryant despairs, "Woe is me! I can't get off, and if I stay up here it's sure destruction!" An unidentified man says, "Alas! alas! we're caught in a tight fix." At right John Van Buren vainly tries to raise a ladder to the roof, complaining, "I can't get near enough to help them down with the ladder, so old Dad you'd better jump off." His father, Martin Van Buren, appearing here as a fox, leaps from the other end of the roof, saying, "Our sufferings is intolerable! I'll take your advice my son and jump off--So here goes!" On the far right New Hampshire Democrat Franklin Pierce has mired his wagon in a muddy lane. It is loaded with boxes "Free Trade" and "No Internal Improvements," traditional Democratic planks. Pierce calls to Bryant, "there's more truth than poetry in what you say. We never needed your help more, for we are stuck in the mud and want your shoulder to the wheel." Although Weitenkampf tentatively dates the cartoon 1847, the inclusion of Franklin Pierce suggests a later date. The work apparently relates to the regular Democrats' 1852 solicitation of Barnburner support for Pierce, who was their presidential candidate that year.|Pubd. by John Childs, 84 Nassau St. N. York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 89.|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 1852-36.

Cartoon print shows Union troops after the Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War from the point of view of a copperhead, that is, a northern Democrat supporting Confederate troops. The image is keyed to eighteen points in the image: Beauregard's headquarters, Jefferson Davis' headquarters, Johnston's headquarters, Elzy's Maryland battery, General McDowell, General Tyler, The Bull's Run, Fire Zouaves, New York 19th Regiment, Sherman's battery, Ely member of Congress, barricade for member of Congress, Lovejoy & Company, Ladies as spectators, Riddle Brown & Company, Blenker's Brigade, Senator Wilson, and the U.S. Dragoon.|Lith. fr[?] A. Pfott.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

An attack on James K. Polk's attempts to undermine Winfield Scott's military efforts and reputation through his handling of the Mexican War in April 1847. Shortly after Scott's victory at Cerro Gordo, Polk dispatched State Department official Nicholas Trist to Mexico to negotiate peace with the Mexican government. The artist views the move, as did many contemporaries, as motivated by political concerns about the Whig general's presidential ambitions. Scott, on a large hill at right, offers a steaming plate of soup to departing Mexican commander Santa Anna, who rides away on horseback. (For the soup allusion see "Distinguished Military Operations," no. 1846-15). From a ravine behind Scott, Polk goads Trist as he aims a water hose at the general. The hose is fueled by a pump operated by two boys in the background. In the distance American troops engage the Mexicans on the hills near Cerro Gordo. In the upper left appears the dialogue: Scott: "General Santa Anna!! do stop and take 'a hasty plate of soup?'" Santa Anna: "I thank you, Sir, your soup's too hot-I must be off!" Polk: "Trist, take care & cool 'old Hasty's' soup, before "our friend" meets him again." Trist: "Your Excellency will pardon me, but I've tried in vain to cool 'Old Hasty's' soup." Polk: "Then put out 'Old Hasty's' fire, or "that fatal soup will burn our fingers yet!" Trist: "Your excellency would do well to send 'Old Hasty' home and give "our friend" 'Pillow' for his Comfort." The last reference was to Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, an incompetent but a favorite of Polk, whose antagonism toward Scott was public knowledge, particularly after Cerro Gordo.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 89.|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 1847-2.

A slightly modified version of "Battle of Cerro Gordo" (no. 1847-2), in all likelihood produced by the same lithographer. The scene is quite similar, except for the inclusion of the later battle (the Battle of Churubusco, fought on August 20, 1847) in the background, and the addition of the figure of Gen. Gideon J. Pillow on the left. As in the earlier cartoon Scott chases Mexican commander Santa Anna away with a steaming plate of soup. Trist aims his hose at Scott, but its spray falls short of him. Polk remonstrates to General Pillow, who holds a pillow in his hands. The dialogue reflects mounting tensions between Scott and Pillow, Polk's friend and favorite in the field: Scott: "General, O do "now" stop and try my 'hasty plate of soup?'" Santa Anna: "Never, no never again, it's ginger tea & quite too hot for me!" Polk: "Trist, I told you, Sir, to throw cold water on that 'hasty plate of soup!'" Trist: "Your Excellency! I've tried my best in vain--that soup I cannot reach." Polk: "My dear Pillow do advance and give my friend another passport [alluding to Polk's mistake in allowing Santa Anna's return from exile in 1846], with something soft whereon to rest his weary head. He did not ask "such soup" from me!" Pillow: "Rely on me, my Cousin Polk, I'll cool that soup as 'Leonidas' cooled the Persians at Thermopola." Polk: "It wont do! 'Old Hasty' must be stopped--My honor's gone with that brave Mexican--Cool soup would suit him best, he'd sip, and sip and sip again & give out his Pronunciamentos--his honor save, and my ends gain, 'Old Hasty' to disgrace, but alas! were both undone--but no! 'Old Hasty' shall be made to pay the cost of his audacity--I'll strike him down & send him home!" Pillow: "My dear Cousin you know you have the power, 'tis but to use it, & 'tis done, just as you say."|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 89.|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 1847-3.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866 by L.C. Mix & Co. in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for the Northern District of New York.|Inscribed in ink upper left: Entd. & Deposd. October 9, 1866.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Another venomous attack on the Lincoln administration by the artist of "The Commander-in-Chief Conciliating the Soldier's Votes, no. 1864-31," and "The Sportsman Upset by the Recoil of His Own Gun," (no. 1864-32). Here Lincoln and his cabinet are shown in a disorderly backstage set, preparing for a production of Shakespeare's "Othello." Lincoln (center) in blackface plays the title role. He recites, "O, that the slave had forty thousand lives! I am not valiant neither:--But why should honour outlive honesty? Let it go all." Behind Lincoln two men, one with his leg over a chair, comment on Lincoln's reading. "Not quite appropriately costumed, is he?" comments the first. The second replies, "Costumed, my dear Sir? Never was such enthusiasm for art:--Blacked himself all over to play the part, Sir!" These may be Republicans Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens. Before them is a wastebasket of discarded documents, including the Constitution, Crittenden Compromise, Monroe Doctrine, "Webster's Speeches," "Decisions of Supreme Court," and "Douglass." At left five ballerinas stand beneath a playbill advertising "Treasury Department, A New Way to Pay Old Debts . . . Raising the Wind . . . Ballet Divertissement." Near their feet is a pile of silver and plate, "Properties of the White House." They listen to a fiddler who, with his back turned to the viewer, stands lecturing before them. At right Secretary of War Edwin Mcm.asters Stanton instructs a small troop of Union soldiers waiting in the wings to ". . . remember, you're to go on in the procession in the first Act and afterwards in the Farce of the Election." One soldier protests, "Now, see here, Boss that isn't fair. We were engaged to do the leading business." Nearby an obviously inebriated Secretary of State William Seward sits at a table with a bottle, muttering, "Sh--shomethin's matt'r er my little bell: The darned thing won't ring anyway cĚ_Ąonfixit'." Seward reportedly once boasted that he could have any individual arrested merely by ringing a bell. He was widely criticized for his arbitrary imprisonment of numerous civilians during the war. On the floor near Seward sits Lincoln's running mate Andrew Johnson, a straw dummy, with a label around his ankle, "To be left till called for." At far right Navy Secretary Gideon Welles slumbers, holding a paper marked "Naval Engagement, Sleeping Beauty, All's Well That Ends Well." In the background abolitionist editor Horace Greeley bumbles about moving scenery and complaining, "O bother! I can't manage these cussed things." Union general Benjamin F. Butler (directly behind Lincoln), dressed as Falstaff, recites, "We that take purses, go by the moon and seven stars; and not by Phoebus! I would to God, thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought!" He holds a sign "Benefit . . . Falstaff . . . Beauty and the Beast." By this time Butler had achieved notoriety as a dissolute plunderer. To Butler's right a man (who might be the stage manager) orders the crew, "Get ready to shift there 'ere Flats for the Temple of Liberty." The artist of this and nos. 1864-30 and -31 was an exceptionally able draftsman. Judging from the acidity of these satires, he may have been a Southerner, perhaps a Baltimorean. The only satires of the time that compare in artistic quality and political venom are those of Adalbert Volck.|Signed with monogram: CAL?|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 141.|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 1864-32.

An illustrated sheet music cover for campaign music honoring Constitutional Union party candidates John Bell and Edward Everett. The candidates' bust portraits are framed in floral and acanthus tracery. In the upper right a streamer with stars and stripes hangs on the twigs which sprout from the rusticated wooden letters of Everett's name. Below is an arrangement of motifs, including an eagle with shield, a cannon, flags, and a fasces. In the distance (left) is a harbor with several ships.|Entered . . . 1860 by Firth, Pond & Co.|Sarony, Major & Knapp Liths. 449 Broadway, N.Y.|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 1860-17.

Another swipe at Whig candidate Winfield Scott's manipulation by antislavery Whigs Seward and Greeley. Here, Scott is a fly caught in a large web, spun by spiders Greeley (left) and Seward (right). Scott exclaims, "I think I've got myself into a hobble!" Greeley, hanging from a thread, decides, "I must hurry up & cover him with our slime as fast as possible!" Seward adds, "I hope he won't break through before I get him secured!" At lower left, Massachusetts Whig Daniel Webster and New York editor James Watson Webb look on. Webster remarks, "What an extraordinary web, Webb!" Webb replies, "Yes it's one of that crafty old spider Seward's and he has caught a large fly who wont get out Scot free--Can't you stir it up a little, Webster!"|Published by John Childs, 84 Nassau St. N. York.|Signed with monogram: EWC (Edward Williams Clay).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Davison, no. 204.|Weitenkampf, p. 107.|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 1852-30.

Another parody of Van Buren administration efforts to end the long and costly Second Seminole War in Florida. The War Department was regularly subjected to public and congressional attacks for cruelty, waste, and incompetence in its prosecution of the war. It drew especially heavy fire for the introduction of Cuban bloodhounds to hunt the Seminoles in early 1840. (See "The Secretary of War," no. 1840-5). Several dandified soldiers lounge in a commodious tent as a corps of uniformed bloodhounds stand guard outside. Their standard says "Puppy Guard Sentinel." The soldiers are surrounded by luxury items like "Windsor Soap (soft)," cigars, and "eau de cologne," and one is fanned by an Indian squaw. One soldier remarks, brushing his long hair, "I say Major, as we are in no danger of losing our scalps, we may as well put our Soap locks on the Peace Establishment." Another, playing chess, says, "Since our new Allies from Cuba have joined us, we can have a quiet game of Chess without any fear of a check from our red friends in the Swamp." An older, pipe-smoking soldier laments, "Ah! the Army is not what it was! Where's the Hero of Tippecanoe." (He refers to Whig presidential candidate William Henry Harrison.)|Lith. & pub. by H.R. Robinson 52 Cortlandt St. N.Y. & Pennsa Ave Washington D.C.|Signed with monogram: HD (Henry Dacre?).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Fowble, no. 338.|Murrell, p. 144.|Weitenkampf, p. 59.|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 1840-6.

The cartoon pertains to some instance of corruption in the Van Buren administration. Van Buren shovels coins from a great pile into a bag held by a man (probably a federal judge), who urges him, "Matty fill up the shovel, you are not the first man, I have helped out of a dirty scrape what is a little bribery and corruption to us limbs of the law, I have been the means of clearing hundreds." At left wait two other men, called "Black" and "Cooper," holding bags. Black to Cooper: "I mean to take my mint drops to Hansells the broker and get depreciated paper for it. that will do to pay my landlady her bill and all my other expenses too." Cooper: "Black dont you think the judge will preach a good sermon for this. when he gets in Georgia. I say Matty dont you mean to count it. I wish I had brought a larger bag." Van Buren: "No Mr. Cooper I'm above numbers a shovel full or two more or less is of no consequence I will charge it all to the account of the Florida War [i.e., the expensive conflict with the Seminole Indians which dragged on throughout Van Buren's presidency]." "Black.C.C." is probably the work of Napoleon Sarony, given its affinity in draftsmanship and lithographic technique to his "The New Era or Effects of a Standing Army" (no. 1840-3).|Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. N.Y. & Pennsa. Avenue Washington D.C.|Probably drawn by 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 1840-4.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Black Power Movement. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

A Whig campaign song in praise of William Henry Harrison, illustrated with a rural tableau of the candidate's fabled log cabin on the Ohio River. The cabin stands in a clearing, and flies an American flag. A cider barrel is beside its open door, around which grows a vine. Outside, Harrison, in shirtsleeves and with his hand resting on a shovel, speaks with a drover or farmer whose ox wagon waits nearby. The drover raises a glass of cider. In the foreground is a plough, and in the background a man works on a rail fence. The song is "Respectfully Inscribed to all true Republicans in the United States."|Entered . . . 1840 by G.E. Blake . . . Eastern District of Pena.|Sinclair's Lith.|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 1840-15.