Gilded PersuasionHow Gilded Age Cartoonists Influenced the Masses

HIST-212Dr. Milton DockeryJuly 21, 2015

Editorial cartoons have been heralded throughout American

history since 1754 when Benjamin Franklin designed the “Join, or Die”

cartoon urging the colonies to join British forces against France during

the French and Indian War.1 Since then editorial cartoons, more

specifically political cartoons have placed their indelible mark upon

American history. Yet, these cartoons were not simply meant as

propaganda for war efforts. In the 1870s, at the beginning of a period

we now call the Gilded Age, Thomas Nast, that famous periodical

cartoonist of Harper Weekly, drew sketches displaying the corruption

of New York’s Tammany Hall and its leader William “Boss” Tweed. The

cartoons were so influential that they drew suspicion and soon Tweed,

a prominent figure in the Democratic Party, had to answer to the

accusations of corruption. It did not end well when he was found guilty

and thrown into prison. Tweed is said to have derided Nast’s cartoons

saying

Stop those damn pictures. I don’t care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents can’t read. But damn it, they can see pictures.2

Thus, Nast’s cartoons and mudraking aided in stopping the Tammany

Hall corruption. The editorial cartoonist won out as a hero for the

people. Even so, we are left to wonder how these cartoonists were able

to influence so many people with their work. The answer is a varied

1 Harry Katz, An Historical Look at Political Cartoons, (Nieman Reports), 1.2 Adam Zyglis, The Art of Editorial Cartoons, (Canisius College: Buffalo, NY), 21

one, but has its roots within the Gilded Age. These cartoonists, the

very cartoonists who took the torch from Nast pushed the limits of

their editorial cartoons concerning political matters such as America’s

imperialism and political election propaganda. No one appeared to be

safe from the cartoonists pen, least of all those within the political

realm.

This thesis looks at how these cartoonists pushed the limits of

their craft in persuading their readers to think one way over others.

The first part will look at how some of these cartoons excelled at the

craft of persuasion with the help of Kenneth Burke’s four tropes of

persuasion: Metaphor, Irony, Synecdoche, and Metonymy.3 These will

help the reader to see that these cartoons succeeded in influencing its

readers, and thus noticed, or feared perhaps, by those in power.

In order to establish the effectiveness, and therefore power, of a

cartoon, we must first look at what makes a political cartoon effective.

According to Roger Penn Cuff

To be most effective, a cartoon must have three characteristics: sparkling wit, a basic element of fact, and a didactic or editorial purpose.4

Most if not all of the cartoons from the Gilded Age contain these

characteristics, which made them as effective as they were dangerous

for political endeavors in danger of falling apart. However, these three

3 Dori Moss, The Animated Persuader, 241.4 Roger Penn Cuff, The American Editorial Cartoon—A Critical Historical Sketch, 87.

characteristics were not enough for some historians, like Kenneth

Burke, who broke these characteristics down into four tropes:

Metaphor, Irony, Synecdoche, and Metonymy. For Burke, these tropes

characterized the effectiveness of persuasion and it was Dori Moss of

Georgia State University, who applied the tropes to political cartoons of

the mid-2000s. These tropes, however, can be applied to cartoons

from the Gilded Age, as well.

Metaphor, according to the Burkean analysis of persuasion, is

one of the foundational tropes, perhaps even the most important of the

tropes, and “allows the audience to see something in terms of

something else.”5 Most editorial cartoons have some semblance of

metaphor within them, since they usually hinge upon the use of

symbols, often times referring to known contemporaneous social or

cultural references. The cartoon titled “The Cuban Melodrama”, found

in the then famous magazine Puck, is a good example of a Gilded Age

cartoon that uses metaphor.6 The scene at first glance depicts a

theatre stage with the hero of the show, dressed here as a cavalier or

perhaps Dumas’ Musketeer, protecting a damsel in distress from a

villain dressed in stygian black. However, upon a closer look, the hero,

damsel, and villain all have labels on their clothes, distinguishing the

hero as the US, the damsel as the nation of Cuba, and the villain as

Spain. Drawn in 1896, the cartoon appears to reference the United

5 Moss, Animated Persuader, 241.6 Fig. 1 in Illustrations.

States’ involvement in Spanish-Cuban affairs in which Cuba was

controlled by Spain but sought its independence. The metaphor,

through symbolism, firmly establishes these sentiments with the

damsel (Cuba) imploring the hero (US) to save her from her captor, the

villain (Spain).

Irony is somewhat difficult to ascertain since its common in most

cartoons but often mixes with metaphor. However, irony is often used

to juxtapose images with threatening political figures.7 The Populist

press, newsprint that was specifically funded by the Populist Party, a

new political party comprised of farmers and laborers, often

incorporated irony within their numerous cartoons. Often times these

cartoons exhibited the main tenets of Populism, that is to say, the call

for fare wages and equal rights for farmers and laborers, and concern

for the burgeoning greed of the wealthy elite.8 Of the many Populist

cartoons, “Washington’s Prophecy Fulfilled” provides an excellent

example for irony.9 The scene depicts the ghosts of Washington,

Jefferson, and Lincoln next to a great throne atop a number of steps

with writing upon them. Sitting on top of the throne appears to be a

large plutocrat, smoking a cigar. At the foot of the steps lays a

disheveled woman, perhaps either America or Columbia, with her

broken sword next to her. Often times Populists considered themselves

7 Moss, Animated Persuader, 242.8 Worth Robert Miller, Educating the Masses: Cartoons from the Populist Press of the 1890s, (Frank Cass: London), 104.9 Fig. 2 in the Illustrations.

to be the defenders of America, or at least its original meaning.10 With

this in mind, we can understand the juxtaposition between the

plutocrat and the three ghostly presidents. The plutocrat clearly

represents the wealthy elite who has destroyed America, leaving her

broken upon the floor, while the ghostly presidents appear to be

beckoning someone to help the woman. In this case, the Populists

claim that they are called by the presidents themselves to save

America from these plutocrats, while the irony is that America provided

the steps and throne upon which the plutocrat sits.

When one makes an argument that formulates a relationship

between the part and the whole, they are making a synecdoche.

According to Moss, this is accomplished in editorial cartoons through

the use of signs and symbols drawn from everyday actions and objects

that surround a public figure.11 It also is used when a negative aspect is

applied to one individual, but can also then be applied to the group as

well, and vice versa. One Gilded Age cartoon that shows synecdoche

well is “Political Leap-Year: An Attack on the Workingman”.12 Drawn in

1884 from Puck magazine, the scene shows an old wealthy widow

courting, or perhaps harassing, a young workingman who is being

prevented from entering the store on the far right.

10 Worth Robert Miller, Educating the Masses, 108.11 Moss, Animated Persuader, 24212 Fig. 3 in the Illustrations.

There are a number of synecdoche moments in this scene, but

first let us look at its references. The “War Tariff” store on the far left

refers to a tariff passed by the Republican-majority Congress during

the Reconstruction period. This tariff charged high prices for

manufactured imports such as tin, sugar, rubber, and, according to

many of its supporters, was meant to benefit the manufacturers and in

turn benefit the laborers.13 However, the tariff did not appear to protect

the labor jobs and caused resentment among the labor workforce, who

soon called for tariff reforms. This explains why the workingman is

trying to go into the store labeled “Tariff Reform”. However, a wealthy

widow, and her children (named for manufacture trusts protected by

the tariff) are preventing him from entering the store. The synecdoche

surrounds these two figures in the center in both a positive and

negative manner. The old harassing woman appears to not only

represent the wealthy manufacturers, through her children, but the

Republican party, whose majority in Congress passed the tariff, as a

whole.14 The workingman, on the other hand, represents the entire

labor workforces who are at this time being coerced by the Republican

Party into supporting the current tariff.

The final trope of Burke’s analysis of persuasion is metonymy, or

the functionality of reduction, where a large concept or idea can be

13 Rebecca Edwards, Politics as Social History: Political Cartoons in the Gilded Age, 13.14 Ibid.

effectively conveyed through a reduced single image.15 It is generally

difficult to find political cartoons that deal with metonymy, since most

editorial cartoons contain numerous images or symbols. In fact, it is

even harder to find a good example of metonymy among the Gilded

Age cartoons because of the sheer amount of symbols involved within

the frames. Yet, one good example may be found within the cartoon

titled “Ready for Business”.16 Drawn in 1884, the scene appears to

depict an Irishman being sold at an auction. A large man, in this case

the slave dealer, appears to be a part of Tammany Hall, the

Democratic group mentioned earlier. The cartoon seems to be

referring to the presidential election of 1884, in which the Republican

nominee, James G. Blaine, sought after Irish voters, while Tammany

Hall controlled most of the immigrant votes in New York through potent

leadership.17

With this in mind, and undoubtedly contemporaneous readers

understood the references, the meaning behind the cartoon is clear.

Tammany Hall, here represented by the plump Boss Tweed, seeks to

sell the Irish vote to the highest bidder in the election, and the racist

undertones within the entire scene depict the Irish as ape-like

individuals, incapable of forging their own opinion of who to vote for.

Such racist depictions of immigrants were common in editorial

15 Moss, Animated Persuader, 243.16 Fig. 4 in the Illustrations.17 Edwards, Politics as Social History, 12.

cartoons of the Gilded Age, and made yellow journalists out of these

cartoonists. Yet, the historic undertone of the racial history of slavery

within the frame would not have been lost on the audience. All

together, the reader takes the cultural and social references of the

time and pieces together, through persuasion, an opinion from a

picture with very little writing and explanation.

With these different aspects in mind, it is clear that editorial

cartoons from the Gilded Age were effective at persuading individuals,

even whole groups. According to the analysis of persuasion as put forth

by Kenneth Burke and Dori Moss, the Gilded Age cartoonists perhaps

could be considered some of the best persuaders in American History.

It is difficult to find another group of people that influenced the social

and political world around them enough to influence the orchestration

of arrests and political elections, with only a pen or a brush.

Illustrations

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Bibliography

Cuff, Roger Penn. "The American Editorial Cartoon--A Critical Historical Sketch." Journal of Educational Sociology (American Sociological Association) 19, no. 2 (October 1945): 87-96.

Edwards, Rebecca. "Politics as Social History: Political Cartoons in the Gilded Age." OAH Magazine of History (Organization of American Historians) 13, no. 4 (1999): 11-15.

Katz, Harry. "An Historic Look at Political Cartoons." Nieman Reports, December 2004: 1-5.

Kemnitz, Thomas Milton. "The Cartoon as a Historical Source." The Journal of Interdisciplinary History (The MIT Press) 4, no. 1 (1973): 81-93.

Martinez-Fernandez, Luis. "The Birth of the American Empire as Seen through Political Cartoons (1896-1905)." OAH Magazine of History (Organization of American Historians) 12, no. 3 (1998): 48-54.

Miller, Worth Robert. "Educating the Masses: Cartoons from the Populist Press of the 1890s." American Nineteenth Century History (Frank Cass) 4, no. 2 (2003): 104-118.

Moss, Dori. "The Animated Persuader." PS: Political Science and Politics (American Political Science Association) 40, no. 2 (April 2007): 241-244.

Zyglis, Adam. The Art of Editorial Cartooning. Senior Honors Thesis, Department of English, Canisius College, Buffalo: Canisius College, 2003, 80.

List of Illustrations

Figure 1: “The Cuban Melodrama”, C. Jay Taylor, Puck, 3 June 1896.

Figure 2: “Washington’s Prophecy Fulfilled”, Anthony Weekly Bulletin,

30 March 1894.

Figure 3: “Political Leap-Year: An Attack on the Workingman”, Samuel

Ehrhart, Puck, 26 September, 1884.

Figure 4: “Ready for Business”, Puck, 23 July 1884.