1885 Hamilton Satirical Political Cartoon, New York Gubernatorial Election

Fighting Gilded Age Machine Politics.

This is an October 1885 Grant Hamilton satirical political cartoon that appeared in The Judge. It refers to the Ohio and New York Gubernatorial elections that year, in which The Judge supported Republican candidates and bitterly opposed a frequent target of their attacks, New York Democratic Governor David Hill.

A Closer Look

The cartoon depicts a Republican voter carrying a coffin labeled 'Democracy' along a road leading from Ohio towards New York, being cheered on by the Ohio Republican Headquarters. The coffin's inhabitant pushes open a lid labeled 'Ohio' and shouts 'Howld, on ye Devil, I ain't dead yet!' to which the voter responds 'Well, you will be by the time we get to New York.' The coffin is weighed down on one end by a brick labeled 'Prohibition,' a reference to the contemporary Prohibition Party, which primarily drew votes from the Republicans and was accused by them of being spoilers (having gained 1.5 percent of the popular vote in the 1884 U.S. presidential election, more than the margin by which Republican candidate James Blaine lost to Grover Cleveland).

Historical Context

The background to this cartoon is the relentless lambasting of the Democratic Party machine in New York by Judge, which earlier in 1885 had been purchased by William J. Arkell and took on a strident, partisan tone, expanding the magazine's circulation by recruiting Republican supporters. Soon, the magazine's satirists saw their nemesis, the Democratic political machine, especially based in New York, at work in the rather genteel Ohio gubernatorial election in October 1885. The race was contested by incumbent Democratic Governor George Hoadly and Republican Joseph B. Foraker, the same two candidates nominated by their respective parties in 1883. While Hoadly narrowly won in 1883, he lost by a similar margin in 1885, hurt by his response to the deadly Cincinnati Riots of 1884 and the use of state militia to quell the Great Hocking Valley Coal Strike. Judge determined that New York Democrats, particularly Governor David B. Hill (who had assumed that role after being Lieutenant Governor under Grover Cleveland, who was elected President in 1884), were mobilizing their party machine to support Hoadly.

Hill, a frequent target of Judge, was an archetypal machine politician, very unlike his former running mate and long-time political rival within the New York Democratic Party, Grover Cleveland, who crusaded against machine politics and corruption. The 1885 New York Gubernatorial election took place three weeks after the Ohio election the same year, explaining the link between the two displayed here. In the event, Hill narrowly prevailed over Republican candidate Ira Davenport on November 3, 1885. He served as Governor of New York through 1891. Then he made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for the 1892 presidential election, losing to his foe Grover Cleveland, who went on to win the election and become the first president to serve two non-consecutive terms. Hill nevertheless became a U.S. Senator from New York from 1892 until 1897, continuing his grudge with Cleveland by blocking two of his nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Publication History and Census

This cartoon was drawn by artist Grant Hamilton, printed by the Franklin Square Lithography Company, and was published as the cover of the October 31, 1885, issue of The Judge. It does not appear to be independently cataloged with any institution.

Cartographers

Grant E. Hamilton (1862 - 1926) was an American artist, illustrator, and political cartoonist. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Hamilton eventually became the art editor for Judge, a position he held for over twenty years. He is remembered as ab influential political cartoonist and was the creator of the 'full dinner pail' campaign slogan used by President McKinley in the 1896 Presidential Election when he was running against William Jennings Bryan. Hamilton also held the position of chief of the government art bureau during World War I.   Further Details...

Franklin Square Lithographic (fl. c. 1883 - 1886) was a short-lived New York City lithography firm active in the late 19th century. We have been able to trace just 2 separately-issued pieces with the Franklin Square imprint, though they also printed covers for the satirical weekly Judge. Despite their brief period of operation and limited output, the overall quality of their work, mostly chromolithography, is high.   Further Details...

Source

The Judge, Vol. 9 No. 211, Oct. 31, 1885.    

Judge (1881 - 1947) was a weekly satirical magazine published in the United States. The first issue was first printed on October 29, 1881 as The Judge and was only sixteen pages long. Judge was launched by James Albert Wales, Frank Tousey, and George H. Jessop, who had previously worked for its rival magazine Puck. In the mid-1880s, William J. Arkell purchased the magazine, which was having difficulty competing with Puck; at this time the magazine's title was shorn of its definite article. Arkell, taking advantage of his considerable wealth, persuaded cartoonists Eugene Zimmermann, Frank Beard, and Bernhard Gillam to leave Puck and join the staff at Judge. As Arkell was a supporter of the Republican Party, Judge soon became a platform for criticizing the Democratic administration of Grover Cleveland, which was blamed for the Panic of 1893, among other issues. With support from the Republican Party, Judge saw a rise in popularity during the 1880s and 90s, surpassing Puck in both content and circulation. Judge also widely supported the candidacy of William McKinley, largely through the work of cartoonists Victor Gillam and Grant E. Hamilton. Judge reached its peak circulation of around 100,000 by 1912. One of its former editors, Harold Ross, used his experience at the magazine to launch his own publication, The New Yorker in 1925, which quickly began to compete with Judge. Due to the success of The New Yorker and the Great Depression, Judge became a monthly is 1932 and ceased circulation in 1947.

Condition

Good. Text along bottom partially trimmed, as issued.