How to Make the Ma{re}yor Go
date: label: Date made
content: 1838
name: label: depicted
content: Clark, Aaron
label: depicted
content: Ricker, Richard
label: depicted (possibly)
content: Jacques, Moses
label: maker
content: Fitzsimmons, James
label: maker
content: Sheepshanks
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This print refers to the 1838 New York City mayoral race, in which there was widespread election fraud to assure a victory of Aaron Clark, the Whig candidate. Clark is depicted upon a stalled horse while his opponent, Isaac L. Varian’s horse gallops out of the frame. Varian is holding a flagpole topped with a Liberty Cap and flying a flag that states, “Regular Democratic Nomination! No Monopoly! Down with a Monied [sic] Aristocracy!” Clark also holds a flagpole, his being topped with a sheep and a flag labeled “Lottery Office.” He is handing the pole to Conservative Democrat but Whig sympathizer, Recorder of the City of New York, Richard Riker, asking him to help get his horse going: “Take my rod Dickey, and give her another conservative poke or it will be all Dickey with me.” This is a lewd reference to Riker bringing Clark conservative Democrat’s support, and is backed up by Riker stating, “she’ll go as soon as she feels her oats! If she don’t, I’ll give her the six months,” clearly suggesting collusion between them. At the far right, a stereotyped Jewish leaning on a cane thumbs his nose and comments, "Shtop my friendsch I vill shave you shome troublesh . . . It ish moneysh vat maksh de Mare/Mayor go.!!" This print refers to the 1838 New York City mayoral race, in which there was widespread election fraud to assure a victory of Clark, the Whig candidate. Clark beat Varian in 1838, largely due to the fraud, but lost to him in 1839. During his first term as mayor Varian passed the first voter registration bill in an attempt to ensure that widespread voter fraud would not happen again.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The artist of this print is Sheepshanks, who is most likely a pseudonym for the artist Edward Williams Clay (1799-1857). Clay was a caricaturist, engraver, lithographer, and etcher, as well as a portrait painter. Before his career as an artist, Clay was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar, but quickly left to pursue art in New York City. After losing his eyesight he retired from art and held minor office in Delaware before his death in December of 1857.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The publisher of this print is most likely James Fitzsimmons. No additional information on the publisher is known at this time.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: depicted
content: Horseback Riding
label: Subject
content: Municipal Government
label: Subject
content: Patriotism and Patriotic Symbols
label: Subject
content: Political Parties
label: Subject
content: Political Caricatures
label: Subject
content: Horses
label: Subject
content: Glasses
label: Subject
content: Chronology: 1830-1839
label: Subject
content: Walking
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Peters Political Prints
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.3359
label: catalog number
content: 60.3359
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: image: 10 1/2 in x 17 1/4 in; 26.67 cm x 43.815 cm