In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes and William Wheeler ran for president and vice president on the Republican ticket. In many ways, the candidates were similar to their rivals – Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks. Both Hayes and Tilden were seen as moderate reformers hoping to clean up politics, and both had relatively weak ties to their national political parties. Their similarities are also reflected in the identical ribbons for both sides, which also reflects the growing commercialization and mass-production of political objects in the 1870s.
The privateer schooner Prince de Neufchatel was built by Adam and Noah Brown at New York in 1813. It measured 117 feet long and 320 tons. With a recorded speed of 13½ knots and a crew of 129 men, and armed with 18 cannon, it was one of the swiftest and most successful privateers of the War of 1812.
The Prince was initially owned by Mme. Flory Charreton, a French widow who moved to New York and became an American citizen sometime before 1812. It was sailed to France under Capt. J. Ordronaux and fitted out as an armed privateer at Cherbourg. In March 1814, it captured nine British prize vessels in the English Channel.
In June 1814, the Prince took six more prizes in just six days. That summer, the Prince evaded no fewer than 17 British warships that chased and tried to capture the swift American privateer. In October 1814, it survived a battle off New England with a much larger British frigate. Two months later, a squadron of three British frigates finally captured the Prince and promptly sailed it back to London to have shipwrights copy the lines of the speedy vessel at Deptford Dockyard. The Royal Navy planned to purchase the American vessel, but it was badly damaged coming out of the dry dock and sold as a wreck.
The original October 1814 articles of agreement that accompany this model list it as a brig, which is a two-masted vessel with both masts rigged with square sails. However, ship captains had the authority to rig their vessels as they pleased, and this model portrays the Prince as a hermaphrodite brig. This was a rare and short-lived rig from the early 19th century, and modern scholars disagree on its exact layout. The foremast is rigged with square sails, and the main sail on the mainmast is fore-and-aft rigged, but the upper sails on the mainmast can be rigged differently.
The lines of the Prince de Neufchatel were redrawn by the Smithsonian’s Howard I. Chapelle from the original line drawings by the British Admiralty. They are available from the ship plans collection at the National Museum of American History (americanhistory.si.edu/csr/shipplan.htm).
This object is an original pen and ink political cartoon hand drawn on white paper by Clifford Berryman circa 1912 in Washington, D.C. It depicts a Christmas tree with a "1912" banner up top and Uncle Sam dressed as Santa Claus distributing presents from the tree to the politicians surrounding him. He holds William Howard Taft’s gift in his hand to give to Taft who is standing close by with outstretched hands to receive the gift. Each gift on the tree is labeled with the recipient's name in the familiar form, e.g. Willie (for Taft), Woody (for Woodrow Wilson), Bobby (for Robert LaFollette, seen from behind), Champy (for Champ Clark), Teddy (for Theodore Roosevelt, who appears with the “teddy bear”), Billy (for William Jennings Bryan, seen from behind), Juddy (for Judson Harmon), and Josie (for Joseph Folk). The drawing is signed "Berryman" in the lower right area of the illustration.
It is interesting to observe that Taft is shown closest to Santa Claus and is the only person depicted with outstretched hands. He and Roosevelt competed for the nomination of the Republican party in 1912. Taft was nominated but lost the presidential election to Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson.
By the late 19th century, symbols of home and family life had become mainstays of American political culture. The home became a setting in which the policies of the major parties and their presidential candidates played out, such as with the image on this Socialist Workers Party pamphlet from 1956.
The center of this fine linen tablecloth is decorated with three small monograms "EW" and scroll designs. EW most likely stands for Ella Whitlock, the wife of the American Envoy to Belgium. Mrs. Brand Whitlock worked tirelessly on behalf of the Belgian lace makers during World War I.
The eight and one-half inch wide border on the tablecloth is executed in Point de Paris bobbin lace with symmetrical floral designs of roses and edelweiss, the favorite flowers of Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. Belgian lace makers made this tablecloth during World War I.
In defense of democracies around the world, President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his annual message to Congress on January 6, 1941, articulated the aims of the nation facing the threat of a world at war. “We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms” he stated. Two of these freedoms were specifically included in the Bill of Rights, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Two were freedoms deeply desired by a generation confronted by economic depression and the threat of dictatorships, freedom from want and freedom from fear.
Artist Norman Rockwell dramatized those aims in a series of paintings that appeared as covers for the Saturday Evening Post and as posters produced by the Office of War Information for its war bond campaign in 1943.
The object is a political cartoon hand-drawn on white paper by Clifford Berryman in Washington, D.C. in 1899. It depicts American General Elwell Stephen Otis and a buzzing bee carrying a label reading "Seat of Government." A penciled title is inscribed along the lower edge that reads "How Otis Surrounded Aguinaldo." The date "Nov.17, 99" is inscribed in pencil in the upper left. The drawing is signed "Berryman" in the lower right area of the illustration.
This drawing concerns the Battle of Manila of 1899 in the Philippine-American War. It depicts American General Elwell Otis with enlarged hands presumably containing the Philippines, with the title referencing his United States victory over the Philippines led by President Emilio Aguinaldo.
The buzzing bee was a device used by Berryman to indicate news, as in "buzz."
This object is an original pen and ink political cartoon hand drawn by Clifford Berryman on white paper circa 1912 in Washington, D.C. The title, possibly not finalized, reads "Frightful Figuring for Old Figgers" and is inscribed as well as crossed out in pencil. The drawing depicts Charles Henry Grosvenor (Republican Congressman from Ohio) busily tallying numeric scores for William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, Robert M. La Follette (Sr.) of Wisconsin, and Albert B. Cummins of Iowa. He says to himself: "Figgerin' isn't what it used to be!" Various numbers appear in the background. He is surrounded by books he may have authored (real or perhaps imaginary for the purpose of this illustration) with titles such as "Grosvenor on Election Statistics," Grosvenor's Political Mathematics," and "Old Figgers or How I Calculate." Berryman's number 2235[5?] is stamped twice in blue ink in the lower right corner. The drawing is signed "Berryman" in the lower right area of the illustration.
Grosvenor had a lengthy and varied career in American politics. He worked as the statistician for the Republican Party because of his interest in numeric political calculations and became nicknamed "Old Figgers." He supported Taft but his arithmetic showed Roosevelt was in the lead - hence, the title "Frightful Figuring for 'Old Figgers.'"
Newspaper cartoonist Clifford Berryman lampooned presidential candidate William Taft for using the issue of tariff reform to fill his wallet in this 1908 drawing.