Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

Click through the slide show to read more about Thomas Nast's life and accomplishments. 

Thomas Nast- The Artist

Click on the stars to learn about the image below. Question to consider: How can political cartoon communicate current events?

Thomas Nast Illustrates Current Events

This is one of Thomas Nast’s most powerful Civil War engravings created when he was just 22 years old. In this double-page centerfold Nast illustrates what he believed to be the past and the future of enslaved people in the United States.  Click on each blue star to learn more about the image.

Thomas Nast Illustrates Values: Emancipation

Team USA gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik at the 2024 Paris Olympics, NBC

Student Engagement: Memes

"The Colored Volunteer" and "Light Artillery" and "Girls with Dolls" are companion images in which Nast uses children to illustrate the hopeful impact of the phrase “forever free” of the Emancipation Proclamation.  Click through the slideshow to learn more about the two sets of images. 

Thomas Nast's Intended Audience

Thomas Nast's political cartoons made statements about what he supported and didn't support. Pick a current event topic. What are your thoughts about it? Do you support it? Does it align with your values? Draw a political cartoon for that current event topic either on paper or digitally on this page. 

Student Engagement: Draw Your Own Political Cartoon

Thomas Nast used the figure of Columbia to represent the moral conscience of the United States. During Reconstruction from 1865-1875, Nast transformed this allegorical figure from a figure representing the grief of a wounded nation to one personifying justice and equal treatment. Click through the slide show to see how Nast used the image of Columbia in three different political cartoons.

Thomas Nast Illustrates Values: Columbia

Find a political cartoon either online or in print. Where did you find your political cartoon? Who is in the political cartoon? What is the political cartoon about?

Student Engagement: Find a Political Cartoon

Think about how the arts and any kind of visual medium shape memory and opinion in our democratic society, and how that has been happening for centuries especially as illustrated by Thomas Nast, and how this continues today. 

Wrap-Up Discussion Questions

Thomas Nast (1840-1902) worked at one of the most important illustrated newspapers in the United States during the 19th century. Nast worked for "Harper's Weekly" during the American Civil War (1861-1865). President Abraham Lincoln called Nast his "best recruiting sergeant" for the Union because of the power of his illustrations. Nast built readers' visual literacy through thousands of published images.  Nast's political cartoons addressed current events in the United States during his lifetime including: slavery, political corruption, race, war, and other themes.


This Resource Kit examines a selection of Nast's political cartoons from the Civil War and asks the following questions: 


How does an artist's values impact their work?
Why does the intended audience matter?
How do political cartoons communicate current events?

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum Website

Political Cartoons: Thomas Nast's Editorial Perspective of Current Events in his Time

Civics and Government

Social Studies

U.S. History

Visual Arts

The Arts

Many newspapers and news sites have political cartoons.  You can find many modern and historic political cartoons online.

Some considerations when selecting a source for your political cartoon:

Where was the political cartoon published?

When was this political cartoon published?

: "Stranger Things Have Happened", Harper's Weekly, December 27, 1879

This picture marks the first time that the Republican Elephant and Democratic Donkey symbols appear together in a Thomas Nast political cartoon. Democratic Senator Thomas Bayard, an advocate of “hard money,” is shown holding onto the tail of the Donkey to keep it from falling over the edge into financial chaos. Republican John Sherman, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, whose position on the issue was equivocal, stands beside a slumbering elephant, satisfied with the status quo. The caption reads: Senator “Hold on, and you may walk over the sluggish animal up there yet.”

Once you find your political cartoon, you can begin to identify the figures in the cartoon. Sometimes animals or other figures are used to represent groups of people. For example, the donkey for the Democratic Party or the elephant for the Republican Party.

Some considerations for identifying figures in the cartoon: 

Are there any exaggerated personal appearances? 

Are there any words or labels to help you understand who the figures may be?

"Et Tu, Brute- Then Fall, Caesar", Harper's Weekly January 27, 1872

Thomas Nast’s Shakespearean characters depicting various political  figures appeared in 

 on a regular basis through the early 1870’s. In this engraving, Nast shows Boss Tweed as Julius Caesar being stabbed by Brutus who represents the Governor of New York, John T. Hoffman. The sword reads “message” as to send a message to Boss Tweed. Governor Hoffman, once mayor of New York City, was  part of Tweed’s inner circle.  Hoffman was so closely associated with Tweed and Tammany corruption that he was forced out as Governor in 1872 when this image was published.

The events in a political cartoon can be real, 

. It takes careful examination to determine which when looking at a political cartoon. 

Some considerations for determining what's happening:

How are the events in the image helpful or hurtful to a person or political party? 

Are there words telling you what may be happening?

"Can the Law Reach Him?- The Dwarf and the Giant Thief", Harper's Weekly, January 6, 2872

During the early 1870s, William “Boss” Tweed often appeared to the public as if he were above the law. Nast depicts the law as the average-sized police officer able to apprehend the average criminal, who appears comically tiny, but not Tweed, the “giant thief” who Nast illustrates as untouchable by the law.

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

Political Cartoons: Thomas Nast's Editorial Perspective of Current Events in his Time

Student Engagement: Find a Political Cartoon

Background Knowledge

Where to find a political cartoon?