Paxton McCamish's CWID final project

1. Political Cartoons
By Paxton McCamish

2. What are Political Cartoons?
According to the Library of Congress “Political cartoons are cartoons that make a
point about a political issue or event.” That being said political cartoons can be funny
or serious. Although they usually are entertaining they main purpose is not to
entertain but to persuade.

3. Join, or Die

4. Join, or Die
The first known political cartoon in america drawn by Benjamin Franklin. The cartoon
“Join, or Die was posted in Franklin’s newspaper on May 9th 1754. The cartoon
depicted a snake cut into multiple segments representing the different colonies. In
Franklin’s era it was widely believed that if a segmented snake was put back together
before sunset it would come back alive. Join, or Die was important because it called for
the colonies to come together despite their differences to fight against the French and
Indian aggression. It was also used later in the revolutionary war to once again call for
the colonies to come together and fight the british.

5. Early Political Cartoons
Although the first political cartoon in America was published in 1754 political cartoons
didn’t really take off until 1828 with the help of lithography which was a reproduction
process that was much faster and cheaper than engraving. Political cartoons were
spread on single sheet handouts or later in weekly magazines. Posted in taverns and
gentlemens clubs, targeting people that would not sit down and read mostly text
newspaper. The early political cartoons were so influential because they were “the only
candidate pictures that the voters had”

6. Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast is known as one of the most influential cartoonists of all time. He was
born in 1840 and moved to the US when he was 6. Growing up he did very poor in
school as he’d rather just spend his time drawing. This love for drawing served him
well as after he dropped out of school he later got a job as an illustrator for Harper’s
Weekly. He quickly made a name for himself as a political cartoonist focusing on the
civil war and corruption.

7. Thomas Nast Cartoons

8. Thomas Nast Cont.
Thomas Nast is most famous for his help in reelecting Lincoln, Taking down the
corrupt democratic party ran by tweed, and creating the now popular image of santa
claus. Early in his career he focused on the civil war and was so successful that
President Lincoln called him “the Union’s best recruiting sergeant” By the 1870’s Nast
had moved on to fighting corruption in the democratic party. The corrupt leaders in
the democratic party led by William Tweed were the target of many of his cartoons.
His cartoons brought to light this corruption and caused William tweed to flee to
Spain where he was later arrested.

9. The Change of Political Cartoons
With the creation of photographs the political cartoons got swept off the front page
and many cartoonists watched as their influence faded. During this era most
cartoonists went for less offensive cartoons as to not stir up people and lose the rest of
the little influence they had. In the 1950’s the creation of the color tv caused even more
competition and loss of influence, but this time the cartoonists were out for blood. The
era following the color tv was an era where the cartoonist didn’t care how offensive
they were or who they pissed off. Originally leading this movement with the attack of
Joseph McCarthy was Herbert L. Block other wise known as Herblock.

10. Herbert L. Block
Herblock’s biggest influence in history was in 1950 when he coined the term
McCarthyism. At the time junior senator Joseph McCarthy was on a witch hunt for
communism. He would declare people as soviet spies and do untold amount of
damage on their lives and careers. Herblock saw McCarthy for what he was and
attacked him and his antics with his political cartoons. His most famous cartoon from
this era was a Gop elephant being pushed to a tower with McCarthyism written on it.
This cartoon caused people to start looking into McCarthy and in 1954 he was shown
as the fraud he is.

11. Herbert L Block

12. Loss of influence
Although the change of political cartoons caused them to briefly become more
influential. With the invention of TV, radio, photographs and now social media.
Political cartoons have little to no influence in the average person's lives. “Currently
there are less than 100 full time political cartoonist, as opposed to 2000 at the change
of the century” Political cartoons are still made, but they do not get noticed like they
once did.

13. Modern Cartoons

14. Works Cited
All images came from google
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/02/28/political-cartoonists-impact-presidential-races
http://www.biography.com/people/thomas-nast-9420600
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/activities/political-
cartoon/about.html
https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/join-or-die-americas-first-political-cartoon
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/herblock-remembered-herbert-block-exhibit-library-congress/story?id=8673648
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/cartoonamerica/cartoon-political.html