Sources for America’s History: Printed Page 256

10-5  |Decrying Jackson’s Use of Presidential Power
King Andrew the First (c. 1833)

With the revolutions in printing technology, cartoons became an effective weapon in the divisive political campaigns of the antebellum period. Both the Democrats and Whigs employed cheaply produced newspapers and other campaign materials to rally voters with images of their party’s standard-bearers and opponents. Members of the Whig Party, who had supported renewing the charter of the Second Bank of the United States, were enraged by Jackson’s veto of the bank bill. In this image, produced by supporters of the Whig Party, Jackson is depicted as King Andrew the First, holding a scepter in his right hand and his veto of the bill in his left.

image
Source: King Andrew the First, c. 1833 (litho), American School (19th century) / American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA / The Bridgeman Art Library.

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Question

    Analyze the elements of this cartoon. What do you infer about the artist’s political perspective? Who was the intended audience? What effect do you think the artist expected the image to have?

  2. Question

    How might a historian use cartoons like this one to understand popular politics during the 1830s? What does he image suggest about how political parties used the press to spread their ideas?