Statue of Liberty (New York, N.Y.)

Chronology of the daily life of Theodore Roosevelt from January 1884 to December 1891. Notable events include the deaths of Alice Lee Roosevelt and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, Roosevelt’s time on his ranch, the completion of Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt’s engagement and marriage to Edith Kermit Carow, Theodore “Ted” Roosevelt’s birth, the “Great-Dieup” of cattle in North Dakota, and the founding of the Boone and Crockett Club.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association

Creation Date

1985

The Cracker Jack Bears visit the Statue of Liberty. A box of Cracker Jacks balances on top of Lady Liberty’s torch. One bear stands on the statue’s raised arm while the other, holding a can of red paint, sits on a book painted with the words “Cracker Jack” painted in red that the statue holds in her other arm.

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1907-1914

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

The Statue of Liberty, her torch spewing the smoke of “Lawlessness” and her tablet stating “The Unwritten Law,” is holding a handgun and a rope labeled “Lynching.”

Comments and Context

Puck Magazine occasionally took aim at lynching — still not uncommon in the United States — and frequently condemned bigotry and prejudice in America, and pogroms and ethnic massacres overseas.

With but a few labels, this cartoon could not be clearer. “Lady Liberty” was not as freedom-loving as frequently depicted. There would be 88 recorded lynchings across the United States in 1908, an increase over the previous year. President Roosevelt spoke in harsh terms against lynching, yet local and state governments — sometimes enshrined in laws — often resisted interference.

Black and white political cartoon depicting President Roosevelt as the Statue of Liberty and carrying a club.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Creation Date

1907-07-10

The Statue of Liberty has been knocked from its pedestal and is lying in the harbor. It has been replaced by a golden cow wearing a crown and a necklace emblazoned with a “$.” The illustration is captioned with a large question mark.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-07-03

A large man, holding a cat-o’-nine-tails labeled “Schedules” and wearing a crown labeled “Monopoly” shaped like the dome of the U.S. Capitol building, sits atop a U.S. Customs building in front of which is a large pile of “Tariff Tribute” money being deposited by disgruntled citizens. Standing to the right is a large Statue of Liberty pointing to the streams of citizens and laughing. Caption: “It is to laugh!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-07-05

Statue of Liberty bending to shake Theodore Roosevelt’s upstretched hand from boat in New York Harbor. One in a series of postcards celebrating Roosevelt’s return from his trip to Africa and Europe.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1910

A caricature of the Statue of Liberty replaces Liberty with a labor union “Walking Delegate.” His torch is labeled “Lawlessness” and he holds a tablet labeled “Tyranny.” At the base are crowds of immigrants disembarking from boats, as other boats stream across the sea from a location marked with a sign that states “To the Land of the Free.”

Comments and Context

A generation earlier, the concept of this cartoonist might have featured only a different label or two. The caricature of the Statue of Liberty might have represented an urban political boss and municipal corruption. Instead, here, the arriving immigrants, depicted in their various native outfits, are confounded by the tyranny of the crooked labor boss, the “Walking Delegate” union organizer, and advocate of violence. At this point in time, this is how many American citizens, not only immigrants, saw a large part of the labor movement.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

On behalf of his daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, President Roosevelt thanks Jeanne-Emélie Baheux Bartholdi for sending the replica of her husband’s Statue of Liberty.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-22