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How Did Political Cartoons Influence World War 1

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Political cartoons’ influence on people during World War 1 Brieanna Wilson HIST 122: US History 1865-Present May 4, 2023 Through World War One and the years around it, political cartoons had a big effect on war politics, presidential elections, and the people involved in the war. Political cartoons during this time attacked Germans and supported American war efforts. Cartoons have been seen as simple and funny but over the years have metastasized to be political and even persuasive in foundation. These cartoons take a jab at political role models and try to deteriorate their influence on American politics and economics. American political cartoons go way back into the 1750s, when they first were introduced to America. They …show more content…

Political cartoons are important historical resources for students in classrooms. They portray many different topics and opinions, not just the opinions and topics white men want us to learn about. These cartoons had a major influence on the group of people who could understand the message that was being shared. Before cartoons you had to be able to read in order to understand, but with cartoons you only have to understand the picture being displayed. “As far back as 1871, “Boss” Tweed of the New York City Democratic machine is reported to have said, after seeing Thomas Nast’s stinging “Who Steal the People’s Money?” in Harper’s Weekly, “I don’t care so much what the papers say about me-my constituents can’t read; but damn it, they can see pictures!” Many African Americans during this time period could not read unless they taught themselves or were freed slaves who went to school. Cartoons were so effective mainly because you weren't required to be able to read in order to understand them, that's one reason why these cartoons had such a wide variety of audiences. The audience of political cartoons grew with each cartoon that was drawn. The skimmers were so committed to their cartoonist that some could tell the difference between their cartoonist and others. Some of the most important cartoonists include, “James Gillray, George Cruikshank, Thomas Rowlandson, Honoré Daumier, and Nast.” You will see their name in a lot of historically important cartoons as they showed what the public was thinking about the government and their

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The political cartoon of Boss Tweed by Thomas Nast is the one I picked. The cartoon, titled "Boss Tweed Caricature," was created largely to draw attention to Boss Tweed's unlawful meddling in the political system. With the authority he was given, Boss Tweed broke several rules, stole a lot of money from the public, gave people jobs they didn't deserve, and hired people with the intention of gaining him more support. Boss Tweed was the subject of several cartoons by Thomas Nast, but this one in particular was meant to draw attention to how much control he had over the political system and how he was abusing it to manipulate the elections. I think Thomas Nast had a valid point when he said that he was acting selfishly and not for the proper reasons

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Thomas Nast, 1840-1902, was a political cartoonist who is known by some historians as “the father of modern political American political cartooning” (Simpson, ANBO). This is due in part because Nast was the individual who created the donkey symbol to represent the Democratic Party and elephant symbol to represent the Republican Party. Another reason why he earned this title and therefore should be studied is that he changed the way cartoonists delivered their context. Before the Civil War cartoonist relied on dialogue rather than imagery to get the message across, However; Nast used pictures to convey the message of his cartoons (Simpson, ANBO). Since his cartoons did not need words to convey the message he was able to reach the illiterate community more effectively than other cartoonists of his time.

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Consequently, I agree with your description totally. QUESTION 5: It was an African American murdered because the tombstone above his head had sketched: “killed negroe.” Both cartoons were sinister because both reflected the same physical outcome of African Americans being murdered. It does not matter if it was a hanging or being hit by a blunt object that was the result of a death of African Americans. The message of white supremacy and dominance was the true sinister act Nast captured in the cartoons.

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