Arthur, Chester Alan, 1829-1886

James Gillespie Blaine and Chester Alan Arthur sit at a table on which are papers that state “The Republican State Convention at Utica, N.Y., April 23 1884” and “The Delegates At Large of New York for J. G. Blaine” and “The Delegates At Large of New York for Chester A. Arthur.” Standing between Blaine and Arthur is a man labeled “Independent Voter.” He is wielding a quill pen labeled “Balance of Power” and has drawn an “X” on Blaine’s paper and is about to mark Arthur’s paper. Through windows in the background can be seen crowds, on the left, “For C. A. Arthur” and one man labeled “J. O’Brien” and on the right, “For J. G. Blaine” with Whitelaw Reid visible in the foreground.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-04-30

In the interior of a recruiting office for the presidency, Uncle Sam and Puck examine potential recruits against a height chart labeled, from low to high, “Notoriety, Popularity, Capability, Honesty, [and at the top] Statesmanship.” A number of men, in various states of undress, have been rejected for a variety of reasons: “Evarts Too Long-Winded, [U.S. Grant] Retired, [Conkling] Too Pigeon-Breasted, [Thomas Collier Platt] Me Too Little, Mahone Must be Readjusted, J. B. Rejected Too Crooked, Dana Rejected – Too Shortsighted, [Logan] Grammar Feeble, [Arthur] Rejected No Backbone, [Davis] Short Winded, Sherman Bloody Shirt Mania, [Kelly] Pig-Headed, Payne Oil on the Brain, Randall Protection Madness, Bayard Unstable, [Tilden] Rejected Cipher Catarrh, [and] B[utler] Can’t See Straight.” Five tall men, “Admitted to the Competition,” stand on the right: “Hewitt, Carlisle, Morrison, Lincoln [and] Edmunds O. K.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-04-30

Print shows a vignette cartoon with a carriage at center in which Jay Gould, Russell Sage, Cyrus W. Field, and William H. Vanderbilt are riding with large money bags; the wheels are labeled “Corporations” and “Monopoly.” The carriage is driven by an eagle dressed like Uncle Sam wearing a top hat labeled “1882” and carrying a whip labeled “Revenue Tariff.” The carriage is pulled by an “Underpaid Workman,” a “Starving Laborer,” a “War Widow,” a “Sewing Girl,” an “Old Merchant,” a “Poor Clerk,” and a “Cripple,”among others, with ropes labeled “Tax.” The surrounding vignettes show scenes of corruption, misfortune, presidential office seekers, Valley Forge, and “Charitable Institutions for the poor and unfortunate” from “Maine” to “California” showing buildings labeled “Poor House” and “Jail.” Featured in these vignettes are such figures as Chester Alan Arthur, George M. Robeson, Samuel J. Tilden, Roscoe Conkling, John Kelly, Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin F. Butler, and Joseph W. Keifer, as well as “Honest Labor, Patriotism, [and] Integrity.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Print shows John Inscho Mitchell labeled “Independent Reps.” standing on one side of a balance scale labeled “Republican Scales” and “Penn.” He outweighs J. D. Cameron who sits on the other side of the scale in a dish labeled “Bossism” with the additional weight of “Threats, Tricks, [and] Bluster” added beneath him. Chester Alan Arthur is seated behind them, holding a large sword labeled “Patronage.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-06-28

Print shows Chester Alan Arthur sitting on a chair at a beach on the seashore, he is perspiring heavily and using a fan labeled “Stalwart Method” to cool himself, as the sun, labeled “Disunion-of-the-Republican-Party,” sets. As it sets the sun gives off rays labeled “Stalwarts, Independents, Anti-Monopolists, Half Breeds, Tariff Reformer, [and] Civil Service Reformer”.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-07-05

Chester Alan Arthur closes a door labeled “Good Administration” to a stable labeled “Political Record Barn.” On the ground is a lock with a key in it. In the background, a group of men labeled “The New York ‘Boys'” and “Jim, Mike, [and] Pat” are getting away with a white horse labeled “Arthur’s Good Name.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-05-07

Samuel J. “Delilah” Randall sits in a chair labeled “Protection,” holding scissors labeled “41 Democrats” in one hand and hair labeled “Tariff Reform Bill” in the other, his feet resting on a tiger skin. “Samson,” labeled “Democracy,” is standing at center. A club on the floor at his feet is labeled “The Peoples’ Confidence.” Roman soldiers, under the standard labeled “Republicans,” approach an entrance on the right. At the front are Chester Alan Arthur, James Gillespie Blaine, and Roscoe Conkling.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-05-14

Print shows a fireworks display with Puck bowing on a stage in front of a “Fan Light” featuring the likenesses of William H. Vanderbilt, Russell Sage, Cyrus W. Field, and Jay Gould; on stage with Puck is a hand holding a smoldering torch which may represent Bartholdi’s hand and torch from the Statue of Liberty. On the left is a pagoda labeled “Puck Office” and on the right is a building labeled “Tammany Hall.” Among the fireworks are many faces of politicians and other prominent figures of the day, some labeled by type of firework, such as “Chicago Shower” – Arthur, Grant, Conkling, Logan and Cameron; “Tumbler” – Tilden; “Twister” – Schurz; “The Falling Tammany Star” – Kelly; “Bomb” – Davis; “Junk Whizzler” – Robeson; “Polar Rocket” – Bennett; “Buster” – Butler; and “Star Route Staggerer” – Dorsey. Others shown are James G. Blaine, Henry Ward Beecher, Elizabeth Tilton(?), Thomas De Witt Talmage, and Theodore Tilton.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-07-05

Chester Alan Arthur is a cat, with the spout labeled “‘Soap’ Campaign 1880,” that has broken off a pitcher, around his neck. The pitcher labeled “N. Y. Ward Politics” lies on the ground nearby. James Gillespie Blaine is a dog sitting in front of a doghouse, chained to a weight labeled “Mulligan Disgrace.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-05-28

Several legislators are slicing up a large watermelon labeled “River and Harbor Bill” in an effort to carry off a share for themselves, while Chester Alan Arthur sleeps in the shade of a tree in the background. George G. Vest carries off a slice labeled “Pistol-Pocket Harbor,” James D. Cameron has carved out a small chunk labeled “Washy Washy Creek,” Elbridge G. Lapham is eating a slice labeled “Gowanus Back-Water Gutter,” and a slice labeled “Blue-Grass Brook” is at the feet of James B. Beck. Beck and Warner Miller work at cutting slices labeled “Wood-Pulp Puddle” and “Skatchekoosis Stream-let,” while Lucius Q. C. Lamar and Joseph E. Brown approach from the background, with large knives.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-07-26

Print shows Chester A. Arthur as King Henry IV on a cobblestone street, with Jay Gould and William H. Vanderbilt holding his cape, and accompanied by John P. Jones; he is accosted by Roscoe “Sir John” Conkling who proposes to speak on behalf of Thomas C. “Master Shallow” Platt. Behind them are Thomas J. Brady and Stephen W. Dorsey. Ulysses S. Grant and John A. Logan are standing on the left, at the head of Arthur’s entourage. Includes text for brief exchange between Arthur and Conkling from “(2nd Part of King Henry IV, Act V – Sc. 5)”. Caption: (Which we have but little hope of seeing on the stage of the National Capitol).

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1881-10-05

President Chester A. Arthur sits on a rock with a large white elephant that looks like Roscoe Conkling standing next to him. Arthur is wondering how to get rid of the elephant. Uncle Sam, holding papers labeled “Conkling Declines,” walks away from the “Supreme Court.” Roscoe Conkling had turned down Arthur’s offer for a position on the Supreme Court. Caption: “How shall I ever get rid of him? It won’t do for me to have him on my hands in 1884!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-03-15

Print shows Puck’s figure for the “Independent Party” in a small sailboat of that name, flying a banner labeled “Independents”, sailing through icy waters among large icebergs. In the background two ships labeled “Tariff Reform” and “Civil Service Reform” have wrecked on icebergs. Among the faces in the icebergs are Rutherford B. Hayes, Roscoe Conkling, George M. Robeson, William Mahone, George F. Hoar, James G. Blaine, Jay Gould, Cyrus W. Field, John Sherman, John A. Logan, Whitelaw Reid, Samuel J. Tilden, Hubert O. Thompson, John Kelly, Charles A. Dana, Thomas Hendricks, Thomas F. Bayard, Winfield Scott Hancock, Benjamin F. Butler, Grover Cleveland, Ulysses S. Grant, Allen G. Thurman, Abram S. Hewitt, and Chester A. Arthur.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-11-07

Chester A. “Arthur” appears as a wealthy sheik holding a rope attached to a fat cow labeled “Federal Patronage.” He turns away William “Mahone,” an old man, ascetic or hermit, who has returned home from his desert wanderings. Caption: Hard-Hearted Father–“I am sorry, William, but I can’t kill this fatted calf for any played-out Re-adjuster like you!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-11-21

Print shows the Republican Party, led by Chester A. Arthur, laying down their arms, with George M. Robeson, James G. Blaine, Roscoe Conkling, Whitelaw Reid, Carl Schurz, John Sherman, Charles J. Folger, Robert T. Lincoln, John A. Logan, Ulysses S. Grant, James D. Cameron, George F. Hoar, George F. Edmunds, and Henry Ward Beecher, exiting a citadel in the background. They are surrendering the presidency to the Democratic Party, led by newspaper editors Joseph Pulitzer of the N.Y. World, Charles A. Dana, and Henry Watterson. Samuel J. Tilden “Old Ticket,” Benjamin F. Butler, Grover Cleveland, Thomas Hendricks, Winfield Scott Hancock, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Thomas F. Bayard are on horseback, and Tammany Hall, led by John Kelly, marches under the banner “To the Victors Belong the Spoils.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-11-21

In the interior of the “Political Hot House,” many plants with the heads of politicians are potted and labeled with botanical names, for example “Butleria Cockeya,” “McVeaghia No Chancea,” “Tildenus Fossilis,” “Blainea Sunstrokea,” “Hewittia Tariffia,” “Shermania Honestia,” and “Thurmania Ragbabia.” At center is a figure fashioned from quill pens, a drum labeled “Press,” and newspapers labeled “Louisville Courier Journal, N. Y. Sun, Tribune, Herald, Advertiser, Times, [and] Cincinnati C[…],” holding a potted plant labeled “Arthuria Accidentalia.” A politician holding a spade labeled “Out of a Job” gestures toward the door of the greenhouse. In the background is the “White House.” Among the plants are Rutherford B. Hayes, Thomas F. Bayard, Winfield Scott Hancock, George B. McClellan, Roscoe Conkling, Cyrus W. Field, Samuel J. Tilden, Allen G. Thurman, John Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant, Wayne MacVeagh, George F. Edmunds, William M. Evarts, Benjamin F. Butler, Abram S. Hewitt, Chester A. Arthur, James G. Blaine, David Davis, and a plant identified as “Adams Icebergea.” Caption: Unoccupied Politician “Oh, I assure you, my dear Mr. Press, it’s none too early to begin to set out the Presidential Plants!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-04-05

Print shows Chester A. Arthur riding the Republican elephant tossed high in the air in a “Political Arena.” The elephant is patched with scandals labeled “Credit Mobilier, Collusion with Monopolies, Back Pay Grab, Third Termism, Whiskey Ring, Navy Ring, [and] Dorsey ‘Soap’ 1880.” Below, on the floor of the arena, Samuel J. Tilden is sitting backwards on a donkey labeled “Incurable” and Puck’s Independent Party figure is riding a bucking bull, its horns labeled “Anti-Monopoly” and “Tariff Reform.” Puck applauds from a viewing stand on the right; sitting in the grandstand at left are Ulysses S. Grant, Cyrus W. Field, Rutherford B. Hayes, Thomas F. Bayard, Winfield Scott Hancock, Benjamin F. Butler, Adams, David Davis, Allen G. Thurman, William M. Evarts, Abram S. Hewitt, George F. Edmunds, Wayne MacVeagh, and George B. McClellan. Caption: Puck presents another prophetic cartoon – and the sooner it is realized the better.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-04-19

A beauty contest is underway where “First Prize” is the “Presidency.” The presidential candidates, all dressed as women, are sitting on raised platforms around which men have gathered to admire their beauty. Two men in the lower left appear to be voting for number “1. The Empire State Enslaver.” Among those in the running are “2. The same Old Widow from Beanville, 3. The Mulligan Masher from Maine [holding fan labeled] J. Blaine, 4. The Delaware Darling, 5. The Indiana Dumpling [holding fan labeled] J. E. MDonald, 6. The Homespun Houri of Ohio, 7. The Illinois Pet, 10. Utica Immortelle, 11. The Buffalo Girl, 12. The Indiana ‘Sun-Flower’ [with ribbon labeled] W. S. Holman, 13. The Nation’s Ex-Favorite [holding fan labeled] U.S.G., 14. The Pension Ring Pocahontas [with fan labeled] Logan, 15. The Centennial Spinster Ex-Champion de jure, 16. The Free Trade Fairy [with fan labeled] Hewitt, 17. The Ohio Water Lily Ex-Champion de facto, 18. The Pearl of Protection [with fan labeled] Randall, The Sherman Sisters 19. The Tecumseh Twin, 20. The Treasury Twin, 21. The Virtuous Vermonter [with fan labeled] Edmund, [and] 22. The Fat Fairy.” Among those depicted are Chester A. Arthur, Benjamin F. Butler, James G. Blaine, Thomas Bayard, Joseph E. McDonald, Allen G. Thurman, Robert Todd Lincoln, Roscoe Conkling, Grover Cleveland, William Steele Holman, Ulysses S. Grant, John Logan, Samuel J. Tilden, Abram S. Hewitt, Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel J. Randall, William T. Sherman, John Sherman, George F. Edmunds, and David Davis.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-01-23

James G. Blaine, wearing Elizabethan style dress, and a small band of accomplices labeled “Clapp, Reid, Murat Halstead, Elkins, [and] Mahone” make their way down a Tudor style street, marking the doors of potential victims, including Puck’s offices, of a personal vendetta. Reid carries a long list that includes “C. Schurz, H. W. Beecher, G. W. Curtis, C. A. Arthur, Col. Lyman, H. White, G. Jones, [and] E. L. Godkin.” Drawn by the commotion, Arthur, Curtis, Schurz, and Beecher lean out windows observing, as does Puck’s figure of the Independent Party. Caption: He organizes a little private St. Bartholomew’s eve of his own.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-01-21

Puck stands with lithographic pen and a long banner with scenes from cartoons that appeared in Puck Magazine during 1884, including the British Lion and “El Mahdi” in Egypt and Sudan, James G. Blaine’s presidential hopes, the rise of Chester A. Arthur, a downtrodden Tammany tiger, John Kelly and Benjamin Butler as entertainers, the French and the Chinese in “Tonquin,” the figure for the Independent Vote and Grover Cleveland joining forces, and millionaires Jay Gould and William H. Vanderbilt.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-12-31