It is widely agreed that Nast had an influence unparalleled by nearly any other in American history; his cartoons showed the faces of injustice to the public, swaying support to the side of justice in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Nast was born in 1840 to a small family in the west of Germany. His father, a military musician, exposed him to a liberal point of view from an early age. His father was among the most outspoken of German liberals, instilling in Nast from a young age, among other beliefs, a commitment to progress. This surely influenced Nast’s future dedication to justice. Nast showed a talent for drawing his military surroundings from an early age, but it was only after he moved to America that he began his artistic
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training. He sporadically learned the ways of the pencil and the brush from a variety of New York tutors, many of them also German in origin. As it was unfortunately obvious that Nast was incapable of success in any other setting, his elders saw that this would provide a foundation for his future endeavors; nobody, though, could have precedented the effect that his childish drawings would have. The Civil War and the period leading up to it was a bleak time for Nast, and for the nation’s atmosphere.
Much of New York City, including its mayor, supported the seceding South, and the notion was even entertained that the city itself should secede so as to choke the Union. Opponents of the dissident South were few and powerless. It was at this time that Nast began to develop his political involvements. A staunch Republican and passionate supporter of the Union, he started to follow President Abraham Lincoln’s political pursuits, painting the events he saw along the way. Originally, the young man painted realistic scenes of the war. As he saw more and more of the war, however, he became inclined to attack his opponents - and what better medium for this young artist to use than …show more content…
illustration? He was hired by the weekly Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper in 1855, giving him a platform on which to protest injustice. Here, he started his political art by simply drawing the filthy barns of dairy cows in order to show the public the origins of their polluted “swill milk”. Over his years at Leslie’s and Illustrated News, Nast gained praise from coworkers and viewers alike, From the beginning of the Civil War, Nast used this medium to crusade against the Confederacy; his cartoons and his illustrations alike gave Northerners a vision of the war they were fighting and what their opponents were advocating. Nast’s works provided a huge inspiration for Northerners to join the war. President Abraham Lincoln himself said that Nast was “[the Union’s] best recruiting sergeant,” praising his ability to stir patriotism at a time when it was most needed. After the war, Nast turned his attention to other issues, most notable of which being the New York political corruption led by William “Boss” Tweed.
He, in league with a select few others with the same depraved interests, puppeted the city’s entire leadership with their well-fed hands, not without the use of bribery and threats. In addition to this distortion of leaders, the Ring, as it was called, had the support of most of the city’s lower-class immigrant population. As the city rapidly became more industrial, it seized the opportunity to use the influx of working immigrants for their own gain. In exchange for jobs and services, Tweed asked only for votes; in this simple manner the group’s control of the city was secured. Defendants claimed that the Ring brought “energy,” “system,” “order” to the city; they were not wholly wrong, as the services it provided benefited the city’s poorest. However, these benefits came at a steep cost: $200 million - nearly $6 billion in today's money - defrauded in taxes. Few outlets were available to protest this gross abuse, as most of the city's people had been inculcated into support of the Ring, and most newspapers had been bought out by it. However, Nast’s paper Harper’s Weekly remained
uncorrupted. Nast's crusade against Tweed was not taken without resistance. On one infamous instance, a go-between hired by Tweed met Nast at his home to bribe him out of cartooning, and then, when he refused, threatened his and his family’s lives. Regardless, he continued his crusade, and the threats did not cease. Harper’s Weekly was accused of libel, and Tweed’s ring, in all its influence, banned textbooks distributed by Harper in the city’s public schools, replacing them with their own. Nast, however, only used this as fuel for his fire; he quickly published a cartoon depicting this as child indoctrination and a bound to learning. It may be surprising to some that a medium as simple - and, some might say, infantile - as the cartoon could be used in such an influential way to advocate justice. Indeed, in an era where news of all kinds is only a click away, it seems odd that the simple cartoon had once been the most influential form of media in the nation. However, one must realize that the target audience of these cartoons were illiterate immigrants and the impoverished masses; before exposure to Nast’s cartoons, they had no way to know that their beloved Tweed was corrupting politics at all. In addition,these comics were published at a time when the United States had the highest newspaper circulation per capita in the world; everyone had access to these cartoons.
Individuals like Boss Tweed seized and controlled entire cities. William M. Tweed was a politician who controlled New York City's political network through illegal subsidization for political support and affiliation with city gangs. From his headquarters at Tammany Hall and his position in the United States House of Representatives, he was able to orchestrate elections, cultivate support, and establish the New York County Courthouse, funded by the profits of the Tweed Ring (“William Magear Tweed”) . His accomplishments were made possible by the chaotic shambling of desperate people who had no choice but to submit to his demands, in hopes of alleviating themselves from their dire circumstances. Tweed was only one of many corrupt political figures who used their power and influence to accumulate wealth, and vice versa.
Robert E. Lee was a fundamental part of the Civil War, and the failure of the Battle of Gettysburg. Lee was a major contributor to the Confederates battle against the Union, positively and negatively. Controversially Lee played a major part in why the South did so well, but also ultimately brought the Confederacy to its defeat against the north at the Battle of Gettysburg. The Battle of Gettysburg was a three-day battle and Pickett’s charge took place on the last day at Gettysburg. At the end of the second day at Gettysburg it looked as if the Confederates had control of the battle but on the third day when Pickett’s Charge took place, the Confederates lost the battle to the North. Who was responsible for the failure of “Pickett’s Charge” and the subsequent defeat of the Confederate Army at the Battle of Gettysburg?
With this power came leniency for the men and Tweed began to use this power to gain personal wealth. Tweed accomplished this when he made business for the city. For example, “Tweed allowed the contractors to overcharge the city for their work as long as the suppliers ‘kicked back’ a portion of their illicit profits to him” (Anbinder, 2010), as well as Hall, Sweeny, and Connolly. Tweed and these men were nicknamed the Tweed ring, known for their illicit acts against the city (Hirsch, 1945, p.
During the 1800’s, business leaders who built their affluence by stealing and bribing public officials to propose laws in their favor were known as “robber barons”. J.P. Morgan, a banker, financed the restructuring of railroads, insurance companies, and banks. In addition, Andrew Carnegie, the steel king, disliked monopolistic trusts. Nonetheless, ruthlessly destroying the businesses and lives of many people merely for personal profit; Carnegie attained a level of dominance and wealth never before seen in American history, but was only able to obtain this through acts that were dishonest and oftentimes, illicit. Document D resentfully emphasizes the alleged capacity of the corrupt industrialists. In the picture illustrated, panic-stricken people pay acknowledgment to the lordly tycoons. Correlating to this political cartoon, in 1900, Carnegie was willing to sell his holdings of his company. During the time Morgan was manufacturing
The political scene of New York was altered greatly as a result of the Triangle Fire. Still dominated by the machine-boss system, New York was prime example of graft and corruption of politicians. Tammany Hall still reigned supreme, even after the fall of Boss Tweed in the 1870s, and a man named Charles Murphy headed it. In 1909, when workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory went on strike, owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris used the police and gangsters to get the strikers to give up their cause. The suppliers of these corrupt office...
Following the years of Congressional Reconstruction during the Johnson administration, former Union General Ulysses S. Grant was elected president, despite his lack of political experience. Although Grant was an excellent soldier, he proved to be an insufficient politician, failing to respond effectively to rampant corruption throughout his two terms in office. Both government and businesses were plagued by corrupt schemes, as Republican leaders used the spoils system to gain political favors and “robber barons,” such as Jay Gould and James Fisk, stole large sums of money at the public’s expense. New York Mayor William “Boss” Tweed, leader of the “Tammany Hall” political machine, took advantage of the influx of immigrants to the United States by manipulating newly arrived immigrants, promising employment, housing, and other favors in return for their electoral support. This blatant corruption severely damaged the opinions of many Americans regarding their government, and prompted the election of numerous reform-minded politicians. Rutherford B. Hayes and James Garfield both attempted to restore honest government following the tainted Grant administration, yet political divisions between the “Halfbreed” and “Stalwart” factions of the Republican Party prev...
enough votes to maintain control over the community. Political machines were able to restructure the city governments; they also resulted in poorer services, corruption and aggravation of the immigrants and minorities. ("Encyclopedia of American History") He was able to infiltrate Tammany Hall and bribe or smooth-talk any government official that stood in his way. Famously, Tweed is known for the construction of the New York Courthouse. It wasn't until the New York Times wrote an exposé on Boss Tweed that his grafting became publicly known and finally consequences caught up with his actions.
North and South The United States of America, the great democratic experiment, was just that. Not since the great Greek culture had a government of, for, and by the people existed. The entire world felt, that on a large scale, democracy would inevitably lead to anarchy; our founding fathers were determined to prove them wrong. But as the political stand off with the British became a secession issue, a great issue split the future nation. Slavery, a southern necessity, both social and economic, threatened the unity of our nation. A nation that would one day be the greatest the world had ever known. During the development of the thirteen colonies, diversity set in early. In the south the temperate climate made the growth of tobacco a suitable and very profitable business. Cultivation of this crop required a lot of land, and therefore settlers lived far apart. Northern Colonies, though, were much more dependent on small farms, with closely knit communities. These differences were the seed of a sectional division that would plague the nation for a century. During the late seventeenth century, this fissure in the ideals of the colonies became apparent. Following the constant political irreverence from Britain, a majority of colonial representatives felt the need for independence. The Declaration of Independence was the document written to do this. It called for an abolition of slavery as well as freedom from British rule. Unfortunately, the South would hear nothing of it. Being strong defenders of states rights, most of the Southern states adhered to their believe in a government less like a supreme authority and more like a dominion of independent states. They would rather stay loyal to their oppressive government than participate in one that shunned their way of life. In order to keep their dreams of independence, they North was forced to make the one cession they did not wish to make. In order to keep a unified nation, the slavery issue was deliberately absent from the Declaration. Some of the Northern delegates were outraged, but none more than John Adams. A renowned proponent of equal rights, he was one of few that saw the irony in establishing a free society without freeing those in bondage. John Adams seems now more like Nostrodamus when he voiced his concern about the slavery issue for future generations. He did not know it, but the couldn’t have been more right.
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected as president in the United State. But, the United States had been divided in the 1850s, due to the question about expansion of slavery and the rights of the slave owner. The issue of slavery had heated the nation to the boiling point. Fourth Months later, after Abraham presidential election, the seven states in the deep southern part of the United States, like South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia. Louisiana, and Texas, had seceded and seized many federal facilities. Although President Lincoln is the president of the United State, he still had no official powers to do anything about the Southern forming a new nation. On April 15, Lincoln called 75,000 volunteers to put down the Southern rebellion, and to reverse the seven states to vote in favor of session. After the nation drifted toward conclusion, Abraham Lincoln traveled all over the North, so he can make campaign speeches for the Republicans party. Abram Lincoln used his influence, as the leader of the Republican Party, by reaching out to the political leader of the Republican party, writing privately letters, demanded that the Republican party needs to hold firm to its opposition to the extension of slavery and to also reassure the southern that the Republicans composed no threats. When Civil War begins, Abr...
One of Lincoln’s most famous quotes is “A House divided against itself cannot stand.” This describes his presidency well- focusing on maintaining the Union. In the beginning, Lincoln tried to stay out of sensitive affairs involving the North and South in an attempt to keep them together, promising the South little interference. Despite this, he played a key role in passing the Thirteenth Amendment, doing whatever it takes to end slavery for good and ending the Civil War.
The memory of massive death was still in the front of everyone’s mind, hardening into resentment and sometimes even hatred. The south was virtually non-existent politically or economically, and searching desperately for a way back in. Along with these things, now living amongst the population were almost four million former slaves, who had no idea how to make a living on their own. They had been freed by the 13th amendment in 1865, and in the future became a great concern to many political leaders. Still, it was no secret that something had to be done. So, as usually happens, political leaders appeared on the stage, each holding their own plan of Reconstruction, each certain their ideas were the correct ones. One of the first people who came up with a blueprint for Reconstruction was the president at the time, Abraham Lincoln. The “Lincoln Plan” was a very open one, stating that after certain criteria were met a confederate state could return to the union. To rejoin, a state had to have ten percent of voters both accept the emancipation of slaves and swear loyalty to the union. Also, those high ranking officers of the state could not hold office or carry out voting rights unless the president said
This article is very historical and has facts within it that date back to the 1700’s. The article talks about how political cartoons play a part in an election.
Contrary to what today’s society believes about Lincoln, he was not a popular man with the South at this period in time. The South wanted to expand towards the West but Lincoln created a geographical containment rule keeping slavery in the states it currently resided in. Despite his trying to rationalize with the South, Lincoln actually believed something different ”Lincoln claimed that he, like the Founding Fathers, saw slavery in the Old South as regrettable reality whose expansion could and should be arrested, thereby putting it on the long and gradual road ”ultimate extinction” (216). He believed it to be “evil” thus “implying that free southerners were evil for defending it”(275). Lincoln wanted to wipe out slavery for good and the South could sense his secret motives. By trying to trick them, the South rebelled as soon as Lincoln became president and launched what is today known as the Civil war.
"Boss" Tweed of Tammany Hall ran New York in the 1860s and early 1870s and some of his feats of swindling helps explain how the machine system works. It mostly centers around the, then new, county courthouse. The building of the courthouse was initially estimated to cost $250,000, but ended up costing well over $13,000,000. Inclu...
Although the American Civil War mainly occurred because of slavery, the fact is that slavery had a lot to do with economic and social issues.