New York State Library
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Civil War-Era Political Cartoons

PRI4513+

Quantity: 107 cartoons (11 folders)
Access: Open to research
Administrative Note: Several items are missing from the collection as noted in the inventory. Ten items were recovered in 2008 by the Office of New York State Attorney General. These ten items are noted by an asterisk (*) in the item list.
Acquisition: Source unrecorded; accessioned May 1985
Processed By: Paul Mercer, Senior Librarian, October 2005

View catalog record

Scope and Content Note:

While most of the editorial cartoons in this collection relate to Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, post-war reconstruction, and national political themes of that era, such as electoral politics, slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation, there is a small group concerning political themes from the 1830s.

Few of the cartoons are signed. Of these, 17 are by Thomas Nast, and appear to have been clipped from issues of Harper's Weekly or similar contemporary news magazines. Thirty-seven of the cartoons in the collection were issued as prints by Currier & Ives. 

Item List


Folder Item Title Date Artist Publisher
1 1 The Key-Note of the Campaign 1868(?) Thomas Nast  
1 2 Satan Don't Get Thee Behind Me!" – Any Thing to Get Possession   Thomas Nast  
1 3 Clasping Hands Over the Bloodless (Sar)c(h)asm   Thomas Nast  
1 4 Apollo Amusing the Gods   Thomas Nast  
1 5 "The Pirates" Under False Colors. – Can They Capture the Ship of State?   Thomas Nast  
1 6 Grand Masquerade Ball Given by Mr. Maretzek at the Academy of Music 1866 Thomas Nast  
1 7 That "Tidal Wave" – "We Are on the Home Stretch" 1868(?) Thomas Nast  
1 8 Ulysses the Giant Killer      
1 9 *The Old General Ready for a "Movement"      
1 10 The Great American Tanner – MISSING January 2008 1868 Thomas Worth Currier & Ives
2 11 *The Precarious Situation      
2 12 The Radical Party On A Heavy Grade – MISSING January 2008 1868 J.M.J. Currier & Ives
2 13 Re-Construction or A "White Man's Government – MISSING January 2008     Currier & Ives
2 14 *Republican Platform, or The Political Mountebank     John McDermott
2 15 The Man of Words, The Man of Deeds, Which Do You Think the Country Needs? – MISSING January 2008 1868(?) Cameron Currier & Ives
2 16 Little Mac, in His Great Two Horse Act, in the Presidential Canvass of 1864 1864 Howard T. W. Strong
2 17 The Political "Siamese Twins.  The Offspring of Chicago Miscegenation – MISSING January 2008     Currier & Ives
2 18 Little Mac Trying to Dig His Way to the White House But Is Frightened by Spiritual Manifestations      
2 19 A Thrilling Incident During Voting, 18th Ward, Philadelphia, Oct. 11      
2 20 Copperheads Worshiping Their Idol 1868(?)    
3 21 The Democratic Platform      
3 22 Progressive Democracy – Prospect of a Smash Up – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
3 23 Democracy 1832 [versus] 1864 1864   L. Prang
3 24 Heads of the Democracy      
3 25 Democracy in Search of a Candidate – MISSING January 2008 1868 Cameron Currier & Ives
3 26 Shadows of Forthcoming Events   Thomas Nast  
3 27 Democratic Platform Made Easy   H.R. Woma  
3 28 The Gunboat Candidate at the Battle of Malvern Hill – MISSING January 2008     Currier & Ives
3 29 Stephen Finding "His Mother" – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
3 30 "Taking the Stump" or Stephen in Search of His Mother – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
4 31 The Union As It Was, and The Union As It Will Be, When Reconstructed on the Basis of Constitutional Freedom   "Designed by W. J. Demorest" From Demorest's New York Illustrated News
4 32 How Free Ballot Is Protected!      
4 33 Desperate Peace Man      
4 34 The "If" Candidate for the Presidency   J. Gibson  
4 35 The Great Match at Baltimore Between the "Illinois" Bantam and the "Old Cock" of the White House – MISSING January 2008     Currier & Ives
4 36 The Great November Contest. Patriotism Versus Bummerism 1868    
4 37 Running the "Machine" – MISSING January 2008     Currier & Ives
4 38 The True Issue or "That's What's The Matter" – MISSING January 2008     Currier & Ives
4 39 "Your Plan and Mine" – MISSING January 2008     Currier & Ives
4 40 "I Knew Him Horatio; A Fellow of Infinite Jest … Where Be Your Gibes Now?"   Howard  
5 41 Platforms Illustrated 1868    
5 42 Abraham's Dream! – "Coming Events Cast Their Shadows Before." – MISSING January 2008 1864   Currier & Ives
5 43 Abraham's Dream! – "Coming Events Cast Their Shadows Before." (Copy 2) – MISSING January 2008 1864   Currier & Ives
5 44 Honest Abe Taking Them on the Half Shell – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
5 45 *The Sportsman Upset by the Recoil of His Own Gun   JO. Miller  
5 46 The Great Exhibition of 1860 – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
5 47 The Rail Candidate – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
5 48 The Old Bull Dog on the Right Track – MISSING January 2008 1864   Currier & Ives
5 49 *The "Rail Splitter" at Work Repairing the Union   J.E. BAKER  
5 50 The Commander-in-Chief Conciliating the Soldier's [sic] Votes on the Battlefield 1864(?)    
6 51 The National Game. Three "Outs" and One "Run" – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
6 52 Abe Linking with His Significantly Named Cabinet 1864 R.D. Goodwin M.E. Goodwin
6 53 *Columbia Demands Her Children   J.E. Baker  
6 54 The Chicago Platform And Candidate. A War Candidate On A Peace Platform – MISSING January 2008 1864   Currier & Ives
6 55 The Chicago Platform 1864    
6 56 Behind the Scenes      
6 57 Little Mack [sic] & His Party "Going Up' Salt River on a Gun Boat – MISSING January 2008 1864(?)    
6 58 Honest Old Abe on the Stump [1858 vs. 1860] 1860    
6 59 The War Candidate on a Peace Platform 1864    
6 60 A Little Game of Bagatelle, Between Old Abe the Rail Splitter & Little Mac the Gunboat General – MISSING January 2008 1864 J.L. McGee J.L. McGee
7 61 Political "Blondins" Crossing the Salt River – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
7 62 "The Impending Crisis" – or Caught in the Act 1860   Currier & Ives
7 63 "The Irrepressible Conflict." or the Republican Barge in Danger – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
7 64 An Heir to the Throne, or The Next Republican Candidate – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
7 64 "The Nigger" in the Woodpile – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
7 65 The Political Gymnasium – MISSING January 2008 1860   Currier & Ives
7 67 Headquarters at Harrison's Landing      
7 68 Turning the Tables on the Overseer     R. & T. Hamilton
7 69 The Tammany Tiger Loose – "What Are You Going To Do About It?"      
7 70 A Union Lady Taking a View of the Modest General … 1864(?)    
8 71 Comparison of Products, Population, and Resources of the Free and Slave States 1861   John M. Batchelder
8 72 *The Confederacy in Petticoats 1865    
8 73 The Capture of Jeff Davis 1865    
8 74 *The Head of the Confederacy on a New Base 1865   Hilton & Co.
8 75 Jeff's Last Shift.  Capture of Jeff. Davis, May 10th 1865, at Irwinsville, Ga. 1865  J.B. J. H. Bufford
8 76 The True Peace Commissioners – MISSING January 2008 1865   Currier & Ives
8 77 *The Capture of an Unprotected Female, or The Close of the Rebellion 1865   Currier & Ives
8 78 *THE LAST DITCH OF THE CHIVALRY, OR A PRESIDENT IN PETTICOATS (3 Copies) – 2 copies  MISSING January 2008; Copy 3 still MISSING 1865   Currier & Ives
8 79 The Voluntary Manner in Which Some of the Southern Volunteers Enlist   Thos. Worth  
8 80 The Folly of Secession      
9 81 South Carolina's Ultimatum – MISSING January 2008     Currier & Ives
9 82 The "Secession Movement" – MISSING January 2008 1861   Currier & Ives
9 83 Southern "Volunteers"      
9 84 Rats Quitting the Ship   H.D. H.R. Robinson
9 85 The Smelling Committee – MISSING January 2008 1868   Currier & Ives
9 86 Andy's Trip   Thomas Nast  
9 87 Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction And How It Works 1866(?) Thomas Nast  
9 88 Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum – Massacre of the Innocents at New Orleans, July 30, 1866 1866 Thomas Nast  
9 89 Political Caricature No. 1. The Grave of the Union, or Major Jack Downing's Dream Drawn by Zeke 1863(?)   Bromley
9 90 Political Caricature No. 2. Miscegenation or The Millennium of Abolitionism 1864   Bromley
10 91 Political Caricature No. 3. The Abolition Catastrophe, or The November Smash-Up 1864   Bromley
10 92 Uncle Sam Protecting His Property Against the Encroachments of His Cousin John 1861   E. Stauch
10 93 The Ghost. A New Spectral Illusion Lately Discovered in Europe, and Now Causing a Great Commotion in America – MISSING January 2008 1863   Currier & Ives
10 94 A Disloyal British  "Subject" – MISSING January 2008     Currier & Ives
10 95 Caucus on the Surplus Bill     H.R. Robinson
10 96 A Bivouack in Safety or Florida Troops Preventing a Surprise   H.D.. H.R. Robinson
10 97 The Mechanic, Robert Smith The People's Favorite Honest, Energetic & Capable     H.R. Robinson
10 98 Sub Treasurers Meeting in England 1838   H.R. Robinson
10 99 Major Joe Bunker's Last Parade, or The Fix of a Senator and His 700 Independents 1837   H.R. Robinson
10 100 The Constitution and Its Nurses Ca. 1837(?)   Willis & Probst
11 101 Going Through the Form of Universal Suffrage   Thomas Nast  
11 102 The Workingman's Mite   Thomas Nast  
11 103 Impeachment      
11 104 Keep the Ball Rolling   Thomas Nast  
11 105 Matched? [U.S. Grant vs. Horatio N. Seymour] 1868 Thomas Nast  
11 106 Justice on the Rail – Erie Railroad (Ring) Smash Up   Thomas Nast  
11 107 What Are You Laughing At? To the Victor Belong the Spoils 1871 Thomas Nast  
Last Updated: April 1, 2022