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Uncle Sam waves an American flag as President Roosevelt on a Republican elephant, Alton B. Parker on a Democratic donkey, and Thomas E. Watson on a goat hobbyhorse line up.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-06
President Roosevelt and Alton B. Parker, dressed as police men, use batons to attempt to wake up a sleeping elephant and donkey respectively in “Presidential Park.” Caption: “Will the ‘hot-foot’ wake them up?”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-08
President Roosevelt easily drives a cart hitched to an elephant on the road while Alton B. Parker’s “campaign rig” cart driven by a donkey is stuck in the mud. Caption: The Judge: It begins to look as if I would have to get out in the mush and mud and push this thing.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-11
President Roosevelt’s “letter of acceptance” spotlight sheds light on a “Democratic mule” with a number of tags on its jacket: “free trade fallacy,” “absurd theories,” “unsettled financial policy,” “shifting foreign policy,” and “promises to Wall St.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-13
President Roosevelt fires a revolver in the air as he blasts a “Pres. Roosevelt’s letter” cannon towards the Democratic donkey. A Republican elephant rushes toward the cannon and says, “I’m on,” as Uncle Sam watches from the background. He says, “That noise means something.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-13
President Roosevelt and Alton B. Parker both hold “Maine election returns” as each one says, “Delighted!” An elephant and a donkey both smile.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-09-15
President Roosevelt holds up his fist at crowd of people who hold up signs, including one that reads, “To hell with the Constitution!” A donkey is in the corner and says, “We are behind you, Mr. Roosevelt.” Caption: “‘I stand for equal justice’—Theodore Roosevelt.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-24
Sheet music and lyrics for “Triplicity,” a Progressive Party campaign song from the 1912 election. Cover features an illustration of a donkey, moose, and elephant, the symbolic mascots of the Democratic Party, Progressive Party, and Republican Party.
1912
William L. Wilson stands in the street outside the White House, holding open a large carpet bag labeled “Wilson’s Free List” which contains papers labeled “Free Wool.” He has an umbrella labeled “Income Tax” under his left arm. Sitting next to him on the street is the donkey labeled “Dem. Party” that he had been riding. Several men, four of them identified as “Gorman, Brice, McPherson, [and] Faulkner,” have robbed him of papers labeled “Free Iron, Free Sugar, Free Lumber, [and] Free Coal” and are walking up the street toward the U.S. Capitol, visible in the background. Caption: “Gee whiz! And it’s a wonder they left that!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1894-06-06
Vignettes offer several possibilities for employment for William Jennings Bryan, of whom it is supposed he will retire from politics after losing yet another presidential election. The main possibility is that the Democratic donkey be donated to Central Park with Bryan as its keeper, offering donkey rides to children. Other options are acting as Bottom in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream; touring the arctic where he warms the region with the hot air of his oratory; becoming the museum curator of his own “Bryan Musee” dusting such objects as a “Gold Bug,” a “Crown of Thorns,” a “Cross of Gold,” an “Imperial Crown,” a “Filipino,” an “Octopus,” and a “16 to 1” medallion; or to go big-game hunting with Theodore Roosevelt where disputes are likely to arise over who actually bagged the game.
Puck‘s now-routine genre cartoon — double-page spreads on humorous themes or only mild political commentary, not advocacy — fairly jumped on the question of what William Jennings would do in retirement, after having lost the recent presidential context.
President Roosevelt is “De-lighted” to shake hands with an elephant carrying a hat labeled “G.O.P.” A donkey labeled “Democracy” weeps at their happy meeting.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1914-1919
President Cleveland adds the top board to a wooden fence enclosing a pasture labeled “Public Office.” The board is labeled, “Extension of Civil Service Reform under President Cleveland.” Lower boards in the fence are labeled, “Extension of Civil Service Reform under Pres. Harrison,” “Extension of Civil Service Reform under Pres. Cleveland,” and “Extension of Civil Service Reform under Pres. Arthur.” Watching Cleveland are the Republican Elephant and the Democratic Donkey, each wearing ribbons that state, “To the Victors Belong the Spoils.” Two vignettes show, on the left, “Republican Party beaten in 1884 and 1892, with all the offices,” and on the right, “Democratic Party beaten in 1888 and 1894, with all the offices.” On the ground is a fence board labeled “Further Extension of Civil Service Reform.” Caption: Neither of these animals has thriven in the spoils pasture, and the sooner they are barred out the better.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1895-01-16
The Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant are depicted in a stable eating hay. They both turn to look at a small goat labeled “Consumers’ Party” that has just arrived to join them in the stable.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-07-28
Print shows a “Before” and “After” cartoon. In the “Before” scene, the “Democratic Donkey” is piled high with bags of “Dividends, Salaries, Profits, [and] Rents” that are tied on with a ribbon labeled “Income Taxes,” standing outside the “U.S. Supreme Court” where the Supreme Court justices are offering a two-wheeled cart for the donkey to use to carry the load. In the “After” scene, the “Democratic Donkey” is harnessed to the cart labeled “Supreme Court Decision on Income Tax,” which is overloaded with bags of “Dividends, Salaries, Profits” still bound with a ribbon labeled “Income Taxes.” “Rents” which are “(Exempt)” have fallen to the ground. The way the load is positioned in the cart raises the donkey off the ground. It remarks, “What shall I do now – I’m worse off than ever!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1895-05-01
An old man labeled “Silverite” rides on the “Dem. Party” donkey, racing toward an “Abyss of Political Mania.” A policeman labeled “Sound Money Democrats” chases him on horseback.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-06-24
A group of Democrats, identified as “Hill, Murphy, Vest, Bland, Matthews, Morgan, Harris, Crisp, Tillman, Altgeld, Campbell, [and] Stevenson,” stand near a bier labeled “Dem. Free Coinage Platform” on which lies the expired “Democratic Party” donkey. A ladder labeled “Chicago Convention” has been placed against the bier and the “Chicago Nominee,” wearing the black shroud of a widow, climbs to the top. Benjamin R. Tillman places more straw on the bier with a pitchfork, while John Peter Altgeld and James E. Campbell use torches to ignite fuses to burn the donkey. David B. Hill and Edward Murphy console each other.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-07-08
A wagon labeled “Free Silver” is filled with a group of “free silver” supporters identified as “Tillman, Boies, Sheehan, Bland, Blackburn, Bryan, Sewall, Pattison, Sibley, Jones, Geo. Fred Williams, Peffer, [and] Altgeld.” Tillman holds a pitchfork with flag labeled “Repudiation” and Altgeld holds a burning torch. The wagon had been harnessed to a mule wearing a halter labeled “Democracy.” It has broken loose and is gathering speed as it rolls backwards down a hill. Caption: Silver Lunatics–Hip, hip, hurrah! Just see how much faster we are going since we cut loose!
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-08-12
President William McKinley lies in bed dreaming of William Jennings Bryan riding the Democratic donkey and leading members of the Democratic Party. Party members carry banners that state, “Anti-American Foreign Policy,” “16 to 1 or Bust All Paper Should be Coined into Ten-Dollar Bills,” “Death to Trusts (the necessities of life are too cheap already),” “Down with the Courts,” and “Free Silver.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1899-08-02
The Democratic donkey, wearing a harness labeled “Democratic Party” and bandages labeled “Defeat in 1896,” “Free Riot Plank,” “Bryanism,” and “Free Silver,” sits in front of a revolving saw blade labeled “Silver Question” at a sawmill.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1898-10-05
A ringmaster labeled “Harrity Chairman Dem. Natl. Com.” stands on the left, offering an opportunity to ride the Democratic Donkey which wears a saddle labeled “1896” and “$50,000 a year for the man who can ride on this donkey to the White House.” Several reluctant man observe from the grandstands. They are identified as “Stevenson, Hill, Pattison, Olney, Matthews, [and] Campbell”, and William R. Morrison. In the background, riding on the Republican Elephant labeled “1896” are “McKinley, Morton, Reed, Allison, [and] Quay.” McKinley holds a pennant labeled “Protection.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-04-15