Visual Materials

An interesting family

Description: Image of a political cartoon caricature of United States President Martin Van Buren as an opossum; the marsupial, with a smirking Van Buren's head, rises on its hindquarters and displays in its pouch three of its "young:" administration insiders (left to right) Thomas Hart Benton, John C. Calhoun, and Washington "Globe" editor Francis Preston Blair.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: approximately 1840
Call number: priJLC_POL_004006
Creator: Last, Jay T(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Gift of Jay T. Last, 2005.

Disturbing a Martins nest

Visual Materials

Image of a satire on the administration of United States President Martin Van Buren (at right) referencing his alliance with political strategist Amos Kendall against Senator Nathaniel P. Tallmadge; Kendall (left) and Van Buren are at a table strewn with "discharge" papers; Kendall is seated below a painting of Andrew Jackson titled "Glory," and reads the "Globe" newspaper; Van Buren sits below a portrait of "Globe" editor Francis Preston Blair; Tallmadge watches from behind a curtain at center.

priJLC_POL_002631

Sub-treasury system, or office holders Elysium

Visual Materials

Image of a political cartoon on the United States Treasury under the administration of Martin Van Buren; chest labeled "United States Sub-Treasury Independent of the People" drops bags of money on office-holders; Secretary of the Treasury Levi Woodbury holds paper treasury notes for "Coblers and Tinkers;" Van Buren gives bags of money to Secretary of War Joel Poinsett at right.

priJLC_POL_002632

The wolf bent-on, meeting little red riding hood

Visual Materials

Image of Senator Thomas Hart Benton as the big bad wolf and United States President Martin Van Buren as Little Red Riding Hood.

priJLC_POL_002633

The presidential fishing party of 1848

Visual Materials

Image of a political cartoon illustrating the United States presidential election campaign of 1848; candidates (left to right) Martin Van Buren, John Hale, Lewis Cass, and Zachary Taylor fish from opposing banks of a river filled with fish bearing the names of the states; on a firm rock marked "Constitution," stands Taylor at right with fish swarming about his line, most of them hooked on its multiple leaders, "Ohio" being prominent in the center; it rains on the left bank (in contrast to Taylor's sunny bank), where the other candidates stand; directly across from Taylor is Free Soil candidate Martin Van Buren, standing on "Free Soil" and fishing with a pole whose line has broken and only the fish "New York" swims with his broken tackle toward Taylor's line; behind Van Buren is a cabbage patch; further upstream stand Democrat Lewis Cass and Liberty party candidate John Hale, who commiserate on their poor catch.

priJLC_POL_002647

Whig bazaar

Visual Materials

Image of a political cartoon showing United States President Martin Van Buren shopping for wigs (in a play on words of the Whig party); the clerk tells Van Buren that the wigs are not made for his type but offers him some "conservative oil" while a devil representing the Loco Focos (the radical faction of the New York Democrats) offers him an "uncontaminated" wig that is visibly full of bugs; wigs on stands labeled "'76" are lined up on the counter with additional stock in boxes on the floor.

priJLC_POL_004007

Who'll have the specie?

Visual Materials

Image of a political cartoon showing United States President Martin Van Buren pictured as a monkey next to an American flag and bags of 1,000 sovereigns thumbing his nose and holding his tail across the sea; his tail is just out of reach of British Lord Melbourne pictured as an English bulldog chained to a dog house that is flying an upside down Union Jack; French king Louis Philippe I is pictured as a rooster commenting on the scene in the background and standing on his own bag labeled "Indemnity" next to the French flag.

priJLC_POL_004008

An interesting family

Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

You might also be interested in

Disturbing a Martins nest

Sub-treasury system, or office holders Elysium

The wolf bent-on, meeting little red riding hood

The presidential fishing party of 1848

Whig bazaar

Who'll have the specie?