Thomas Nast

Artist's Biography

Iron And Blood - This "Don't Scare Worth A Cent."

Wood engraving, 1875
Image size 13 7/8 x 9 1/4" (351 x 233 mm).
Good condition LOCATION: New York City

Inventory Number: 48084
Price: $75.00
Publisher : Published by Harpers Weekly, July 31, 1875. Jack in the Box with the words "Tremble, Tyrants, The Sans-Gulottes Are Coming!"; "Vive La Guillotine!"; "More Green Backs or Death!" around the head.

William D. Kelley, an American judge and politician, had financial views that differed from most Republican supporters. When this cartoon was made, in July of 1875, America was in the throws of the Long Depression (1873-1879). Financial debates raged in the government. There was a battle between greenbacks (paper money), which would raise inflation but help struggling Americans at the current moment, and those favoring the old fashioned specie (coin based) currency that followed the gold model, which critics feared would worsen the affects of the Depression. Kelley was among those who supported greenbacks and its expansion.

In this cartoon Nast accuses Kelley of rabble-rousing. A poster in front of the crazed jack-in-the-box reads, "What bullionists may expect, if times continue as they are. Labor will take capital by the throat, and the scenes of the French Revolution be re-enacted - Judge Kelley." 18th-19th Century Subjects , Caricatures and Satirical , Political

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