Cox, Samuel Sullivan, 1824-1889

William Rockhill Nelson believes that the forces opposed to Theodore Roosevelt will continually be trying to aggravate him in order to put him at a disadvantage, and tells Roosevelt that he does not need to defend himself, as the people will come to his defense. He illustrates this with an incident he remembers from New York politics.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-09-07

Creator(s)

Nelson, William Rockhill, 1841-1915

Recipient

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

A flock of politicians, each carrying a bill of their creation, flies over the head of a female symbolic representation of the U.S. Capitol dome.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1880-1900

Creator(s)

Coffin, George Yost, 1850-1896

Grover Cleveland, as William Tell, holds the hand of Franklin Edson, as his son, striding past a hat labeled “Tammany” perched atop a stick labeled “Ignorant Voters” around which Samuel S. Cox, Thomas F. Grady, Hubert O. Thompson, Francis B. Spinola, and others bow down. On the left, an enraged John Kelly sits on a donkey, commanding soldiers carrying a banner labeled “Board of Aldermen.” In the background, on the right, standing beneath a sign that states “Regular Democracy,” are a group of men that includes Samuel J. Tilden, William R. Grace, Abram S. Hewitt, and Edward Cooper.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-05-16

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Puck’s stereotypical Irishman labeled “Democracy” appears in the role of “Bottom” from Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with Puck holding the head of an ass above him. He is holding a paper that states “Free Protection for Revenue Only. Free Revenue Reform for Protection Only. To the Civil Service Reformers belong the Spoils!!!” A host of fairies, insects, and minions of the night are gathered around him, including Theodore Roosevelt as a fairy standing on a snail labeled “N. Y. City Reform,” John Logan as a mushroom, John Kelly as a spider on a web labeled “N. Y.,” William Evarts as a bird with a long beak, unidentified man as a frog, James Blaine and George Robeson as owls, David Davis, Samuel J. Tilden as a grasshopper, Roscoe Conkling as a bird, Whitelaw Reid labeled “3 cts” and another man labeled “2 cts” as moths, and a diminutive Chester A. Arthur peering from behind Bottom’s feet. Jay Gould appears as a snake in the bushes. Among the fairies are “Randall, Carlisle, Dana, Cleveland, Cox,” and Henry Watterson. Uncle Sam and Columbia observe from behind a tree. Includes Bottom’s lines “I have had a dream – past the wit of men to say what dream it was. … But man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I had” from the play.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-02-20

Creator(s)

Unknown

A gallery of presidential candidates includes, clockwise, from bottom left: John Kelly as a card-playing pig, Chester A. Arthur as “The Snake Charmer” charming a snake labeled “Stalwart Vote” with a horn labeled “Patronage,” Benjamin F. Butler as “What is it?,” “Siamese Twins Keifer [and] Robeson,” John A. Logan as the “Wild Zulu on the Warpath,” “Carlisle, Morrison, [and] Hewitt” as a “Wax Group of Three Heroes Who Perished in an Attempt to Reach the Pole of Tariff Reform,” “‘Richelieu’ Robinson” as a “Fire Eater,” Charles A. “Dana” as a “Screech Parrot,” a cage containing an “Un-Happy Family – N.Y. Board of Aldermen,” an “Ancient Mummy Exhumed Lately” labeled “1876 Fraud Issue – S. J. T.,” John “Sherman” as “The Man in the Bloody Shirt,” Henry Watterson as a buffalo, Whitelaw Reid as a giraffe, and Samuel J. Randall(?) as “The Democratic White Elephant,” William “Evarts” as the thin man, Roscoe Conkling as the bearded lady, David “Davis” as the Fat Lady, Robert Todd “Lincoln” and George F. “Edmunds” as “The Two Giants,” James G. Blaine as the tattooed man, T. C. “Platt” and William “Mahone” as Tom Thumb and his bride, and Samuel S. “Cox” as a dancing poodle. In the center is a stuffed tiger labeled “Tammany” on a pedestal labeled “Killed by Roosevelt.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-04-16

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Print shows a small, rustic room crowded with members of the Democratic Party, some dressed as old women, others drinking and smoking clay pipes. One man, the “Shaughraun” labeled “Democratic Party,” is lying on a board that is resting on wooden supports. He is stirred to life by snuff sprinkled on his nose from a bowl labeled “Tariff Reform Snuff” by John G. Carlisle who is dressed in a formal uniform with sword. Among the crowd are Charles A. Dana, Benjamin F. Butler, and Samuel J. Tilden (all dressed as old women), Grover Cleveland, Samuel J. Randall, John Kelly, Henry Watterson, Abram S. Hewitt (dressed as an old woman), Samuel S. Cox, and Thomas F. Bayard (also dressed as an old woman), with arms raised in alarm and a broken pipe at his feet. On the far right are Thomas A. Hendricks drinking from a bottle labeled “Old Ticket Rye,” Winfield Scott Hancock, and Allen G. Thurman. Caption: “Captain” Carlisle shows that he is up to snuff.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-12-12

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

A woman labeled “Democracy,” wearing a blindfold labeled “Stupidity,” is being pushed by Samuel J. Randall toward a “Presidenti[al] Chair.” Several eggs lie in the way on the ground, labeled “Honest Naval Appropriation, Civil Service Reform, Honest River-Harbor Appropriation, Economy, Anti-Silver Coinage, National Banking System, Tariff Reform, [and] Prompt Legislation.” Two of the eggs are broken. Among a group of men laughing, in the background on the right, are John Logan, John Sherman, and William D. Kelley.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-04-09

Creator(s)

Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894

In a winter scene, a soldier labeled “Democracy” stands in front of a road sign that points in four directions “Free Trade, To Tariff Reform, To Protection, [and] No Policy.” Between his feet is a small dog that looks like John Kelly. “Speaker Carlisle” as a drum major for “Reform” is standing in the left foreground. Behind and to the left are Benjamin Butler “Butlerism,” Abram S. “Hewitt” with “Free Trade” banner, and Samuel S. “Cox” pointing toward “Free Trade.” Samuel J. “Randall” is standing in the right foreground, wearing a helmet labeled “Protection.” Behind and to the right are Sereno “Payne” with banner labeled “Straddle Every Issue!”, Thomas “Bayard” holding papers that state “Dodge the Question,” and Samuel J. Tilden labeled “Ancient Issues.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-01-30

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Print shows Samuel S. Cox, Abram S. Hewitt, and William E. Robinson (waving a paper that states “The demands of 20,000,000 Irish-Americans”) pulling on the tail of the British Lion. The front paws of the lion rest on the body of a man with a handgun in one hand and a paper labeled “Assassin O’Donnell” in the other. A gibbet stands in the background. Patrick O’Donnell was executed by hanging in London on December 17, 1883, for the murder of James Carey. Caption: The little men and their little grip on the British Lion.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-12-19

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Samuel S. Cox, as a court jester, is booted off a podium by a man sitting in the “Speaker’s Chair” in a congressional chamber, and is about to land on the floor. Cox is holding a stick with balloons attached labeled “Jokes, Witticisms, [and] Sarcasm,” and a book “by S. S. Cox” titled “Why We Laugh” (possibly the new and enlarged 1880 edition of his book first published in 1876) drops to the floor next to him. In the upper right, looking on approvingly, are members of Congress, Allen G. Thurman and Lucius Q. C. Lamar among them.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-12-05

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Uncle Sam is ailing with a toothache labeled “Mormonism!” He sits on a chair in the office of “Washington Dental Association” offering “S.S. Cox’s Laughing Gas – Mild & Harmless,” as two arms labeled “Senate” and “House Representatives” reach toward him. One hand holds a pair of pliers labeled “Heroic Measures.” Caption: Uncle Sam – “I suppose I’ve got to have the derned thing out – only, pull it easy!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-11-07

Creator(s)

Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894

President Cleveland, as Santa Claus, stands in front of a fireplace where stockings are hung from the mantle. He has a large sack of toys labeled “Navy, Treasury, Interior, Justice, State, [and] War Dept.” on his back, and a cat that looks like John Kelly lies at his feet. Watching from around the room are “Bayard, Randall, Cox, Barnum, McDonald, Slocum, Lamar, Morrison, [Garland], Tilden, Carlisle, Hewitt, Watterson, [and] Thurman,” and asleep in a cradle labeled “Independence” is either Carl Schurz or Joseph Pulitzer.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-12-24

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Newspaper editors present their candidates for government appointments. James Gordon “Bennett” holds up a bust of Roscoe Conkling labeled “Sect. Interior,” with a tray labeled “Bennett’s Beauties” at his feet. Whitelaw “Reid” holds a tray labeled “Please choose these and suit us, Blaine & Reid,” on which are busts labeled “KKK” for “Sec’y Interior, Sec’y of War, [and] Treasury.” Joseph “Pulitzer” holds up a tray labeled “The World for Pulitzer” on which are busts of himself. Charles A. Dana carries a tray labeled “Dana’s Darlings” with busts of John “Kelly,” Thomas F. “Grady,” George M. “Robeson,” Samuel Sullivan “Cox,” and Benjamin F. Butler. There is also a man carrying a basket labeled “Hens’ Rights Heroines” with busts of “Lockwood, E.C. Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Phoebe Cozzens [sic], [and] Lucy Stone.” President Cleveland is visible through a window on the right, conducting interviews for cabinet positions. Caption: Chorus of Journalistic Candidate-Peddlers – “Here y’are now! – I’ve got the only genuine article! – Don’t mind that other fellow!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-12-17

Creator(s)

Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894

Samuel J. Tilden, pictured as Moses with two rays of light emitting from his forehead, stands with his back to a mountainside where some rocks look like barrels labeled with “$”, and a sign that states “This Stream Stopped Running in November 1876.” He is confronted by a group of parched (for funds) political aspirants labeled “Hewitt, Watterson, Dana, [Hendricks], Cox, Bayard, Randall, N. Y. Democracy, [Kelly], Payne, Lamar, [and] Thurman,” and one man holding a jug labeled “For Campaign Funds.” They implore him to strike the rocks and make the money flow.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-04-02

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

President Cleveland, as Gulliver, has a rope labeled “Good Policy” tied to the ships of the “Republican Party,” and pulls them toward the opposite shore where a group of men, including Ambassador Samuel S. Cox, Thomas A. Hendricks, Samuel J. Randall, and Charles A. Dana, wait beneath a banner labeled “Democracy” with the United States Capitol on a hill behind them. On the Republican shore are William M. Evarts, Whitelaw Reid, James G. Blaine, John Logan, and others.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-06-17

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

The ghost of Winfield Scott Hancock sits on a throne in a banquet hall. Samuel J. Tilden pushes a frightened Charles A. Dana, as Macbeth, toward Hancock. Dana makes wild statements while waving around a note for $5000.00. A chalice has fallen to the floor, spilling “Harmony.” Samuel S. Cox, as a court jester, sits on the floor next to the throne with “S.S. Cox’s Joke Book” at his knee. The room is filled with courtiers, among them Thomas A. Hendricks, Grover Cleveland who has fallen backwards onto John Kelly, Thomas F. Bayard, Samuel J. Randall, David Davis, Henry Watterson, Abram S. Hewitt, Hubert O. Thompson, George Hoadly, and Benjamin F. Butler. All seem to be sitting in judgment of Dana. Caption: MacBeth-Dana–“Never shake thy gory locks at me! I’ll bet you Five Thousand Dollars thou canst not say I did it!!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-08-29

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

A camel has collasped under the weight of its burden labeled “Amendments,” with Samuel J. Randall riding on top. Concerned travelers include John Kelly, Samuel J. Tilden, Henry Watterson, Sereno Payne, Morrison, Abram S. Hewitt, Grover Cleveland, Carlisle, Charles A. Dana, Thomas Bayard, Benjamin F. Butler, and Samuel S. Cox. Bones labeled “1880 Local Issue, 1876 Fraud, [and] 1872” lie in the sand nearby. A “November Simoom” is approaching in the right background. On the left, an elephant labeled “Republicans” carrying among others James G. Blaine, John A. Logan, and Roscoe Conkling, races toward an oasis. Caption: “If its back is broken, we are lost!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-03-19

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896