Randall, Samuel J. (Samuel Jackson), 1828-1890

Coffin, George Yost, 1850-1896

Creation Date

1880-1900

Creator(s)

The Democratic smithy – odd shoes for the mule

In the interior of a blacksmith’s shop, Samuel Randall, Abram Hewitt, and Benjamin Butler are putting oversized shoes labeled “Protection, Free Trade, [and] Incidental Tariff” on a mule labeled “Democracy.” Henry Watterson works on a shoe labeled “Western Policy” and Thomas Bayard reaches for a shoe labeled “Elastic Policy.” In the right foreground, Charles A. Dana is cooling rods labeled “MacDonald Boom, Hancock, Grace, Hendricks, [and] Tilden.” At the furnace are Grover Cleveland, Lucius Q. C. Lamar, and “Robbinson” with irons labeled “Business Principles, Southern Policy, Tariff for Rev. [and] Dodge Policy” in the fire. In the background on the right are John Kelly, Joseph Pulitzer, and Oswald Ottendorfer operating the “Dem. Press Bellows” for the “N.Y. World, N.Y. Star, [and] Staatszeitung.” Puck sits on top of a wall in the upper left, next to a notice that states “Tariff Tinkering Done Here.”

Collection

Creation Date

1883-06-20

Creator(s)

Democratic harmony under the Jeffersonian banner

Thomas F. Bayard carries a banner that shows a portrait of Thomas Jefferson and is labeled “Jeffersonian Principles,” with a streamer at top that states “A Government of the People, by the People, for the People.” Attached to the corners of the banner are ribbons that are being pulled in different directions, tearing the banner in the process. At the upper left, a ribbon labeled “Civil Service Reform” is pulled by George H. Pendleton, holding a notice that states “Civil Service Reform will Save the Country.” At bottom left, a ribbon labeled “High Tariff” is pulled by Samuel J. Randall, holding a notice that states “High Tariff benefits the Laborer.” At center is Bayard with a notice in his pocket that states “Let us dodge every question.” On the bottom right, a ribbon labeled “To the Victors belong the Spoils” is held by John Kelly, along with a notice that states “The Spoils Policy is the Safest Policy.” At top right, a ribbon labeled “Free Trade” is pulled by Abram S. Hewitt, holding a notice that states “Free Trade benefits the Laborer.”

Collection

Creation Date

1883-04-25

Creator(s)

Bottom’s dream

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

Creation Date

1884-02-20

Creator(s)

Unknown

Cleveland’s entry into Washington – March 4th. 1885

Grover Cleveland rides the Democratic donkey past the “Republican R. R. R. Hotel” on the way to his inauguration. He is surrounded by a host of characters that includes many political figures and newspaper editors, including Joseph F. Keppler with his diminutive character Puck. Among those depicted are: Roscoe Conkling, George Edmunds, Augustus Garland, “Hampton,” “William H. Barnum,” L. Q. C. Lamar, “Grace,” “Jones,” Joseph Pulitzer, James G. Bennett, Henry B. Ward, Samuel J. Randall, Thomas Hendricks, Abram S. Hewitt, U. S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, “McDonas,” Daniel Manning, George W. Curtis, Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel J. Tilden, Thomas F. Bayard (carrying a flag that states “Public Office is a Public Trust. G. Cleveland”), Joseph Medill, William C. Endicott, John Logan, James G. Blaine, Carl Schurz, William F. Vilas, Cox, Winfield Scott Hancock, Benjamin Harrison, Henry Watterson, and Hermann “Raster.” Also shown is Puck’s Independent Party figure and papers labeled “Compliments of C. A. Dana.”

Collection

Creation Date

1885-03-04

Creator(s)

The national dime-museum – will be run during the presidential campaign

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

Creation Date

1884-04-16

Creator(s)

Strange, but true

Schuyler Colfax stands at a lectern labeled “Speaker Colfax – Pious Hypocrite and Credit Mobilier Bribe-Taker.” James G. Blaine stands at a lectern labeled “Speaker Blaine – ‘Magnetic’ Blusterer and Railroad Stock-Jobber.” Joseph W. Keifer stands at a lectern labeled “Speaker Keifer – The Corrupt Tool of Robeson et al.” Blaine gestures toward three portraits hanging on the wall in the background, of former Democratic Speakers of the House, labeled “Kerr, Randall, [and] Carlisle.” Caption: The three last speakers of the “Untrustworthy and Disreputable Democratic Party,” and the three last speakers of the “Grand Old Republican Party of Moral Ideas.”

Collection

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

Creation Date

1884-07-16

Creator(s)

Delilah Randall betrays the democratic Samson

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

Creation Date

1884-05-14

Creator(s)

The Presidential recruiting-office

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

Creation Date

1884-04-30

Creator(s)

Democracy’s disastrous egg-dance

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

Creation Date

1884-04-09

Creator(s)

Too many leaders

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

Creation Date

1884-01-30

Creator(s)

The contest of beauty

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

Creation Date

1884-01-23

Creator(s)

“The tribute to the Minotaur” – the interests of all other states sacrificed to the protection monster of Pennsylvania

llustration shows Samuel J. Randall seated at one end of a gondola and William D. Kelley standing at the other end calling out “to the Protection Minotaur of Pennsylvania”, between them are several maiden women labeled “Louisiana, California, Illinois, New York, Georgia, Mass, [and] Indiana” who are to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. A banner hanging on the wall states “Pennsylvania First Last and All the Time”. At the opening in the wall is a relief of a minotaur’s head labeled “Pennsylvania.” After a painting by Ernest Augustin Gendron titled “The Tribute to the Minotaur.”

Collection

Creation Date

1885-12-02

Creator(s)

A new way of “waking” the Democratic shaughraun

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

Creation Date

1883-12-12

Creator(s)

A moment of anxiety – who is going to get left?

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

Creation Date

1884-12-24

Creator(s)

The true inwardness of the Tilden boom – the democratic tribes clamor for Sammy to strike his rocks

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

Creation Date

1884-04-02

Creator(s)

Gulliver-Cleveland takes possession of the enemy’s fleet and deprives them of their strength

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

Creation Date

1885-06-17

Creator(s)