Originally posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2012
Thomas Nast, the famous political cartoonist who invented the elephant and the jackass symbols for the Republican and Democratic parties also turned his pen in favor of gold.
From Harper’s Weekly, 1879:
As HarpWeek explains:
The featured cartoon suggests a scenario by which the Democratic Party in 1880 might win the presidency (a feat they had not accomplished since 1856). Senator Thomas Bayard’s firm position in favor of the gold standard could pull the Democratic Donkey away from the chasm of “financial chaos” into which it was toppling because of its desire for inflationary money—paper currency (“greenbacks”) or silver. In the background, a glum Treasury Secretary John Sherman, a leading contender for the Republican nomination, holds a document labeled “83 Cents Resumption,” while the Republican Elephant lies unconscious by a boulder reading “Let Well Enough Alone.” The image is critical of Sherman’s acceptance of the reintroduction of silver coins in 1878 (worth 83 cents to the gold dollar), which, according to cartoonist Thomas Nast, undermined the resumption of the gold standard in January 1879. By contrast, Bayard is praised for his congressional resolutions (which appear in his hat) to repeal the legal tender notes issued by the Treasury. In the lead editorial of the same Harper’s Weekly issue, George William Curtis called Bayard’s resolutions a “prompt and courageous act,” which would help define the position of the two parties on the money question.
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