Thomas Nast

Artist's Biography

Food for the Tricky "Statesman," and Death to our Honorable Army.

Wood engraving, 1876.
Image size 18 5/8 x 13 1/4" (47.4 x 33.6 cm).
Good condition, save a few small repaired tears in the margins. LOCATION: New York City

Inventory Number: 92280
Price: $125.00
Publisher : Published by Harper's Weekly. February 19, 1876. The secondary title line reads. "The line is being so reduced that we can no longer fight it out."

Columbia, the female personification of America, stands frustrated and heartbroken before a skeleton soldier. In her hands in a paper reading, "Bill 44 Congress. The statesmen prey for further reduction of the U.S. 'skeleton' Army and Navy." In the distance a flag reading "$. Plunder and Blunder" flies over the Capitol building.

This political cartoon references the recent move to reduce the military forces in the United States. At this point in history the military was being used to uphold the law and protect its citizens. They were managing the hostilities between settlers and Native American and in the west, and African Americans and white supremacist in the South. To the artist, Thomas Nast, cutting their forces meant disaster for the future. 18th-19th Century Subjects , Caricatures and Satirical

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