Hunkers Attend! Fire Away!!
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1856
name: label: referenced
content: Buchanan, James
label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: Although the donkey was not recognized as the Democratic Party’s unofficial mascot until the late 19th century, opponents of Andrew Jackson had famously referred to him as a “jackass,” leading political cartoonists to include depictions of donkeys in works critical of him during the 1828 Presidential Election. Jackson then famously countered his opponent’s taunts, celebrating the beast’s strong will and determination. Even so, the animal was still used throughout the mid-19th century politicians that critics found distasteful. This broadside uses the animal to symbolize James Buchanan during the 1856 Presidential race. The caption above the donkey announces, “Hunkers Attend! Fire Away!!” Hunkers was the term employed during the 1840s to describe members of the conservative Democratic faction in New York that opposed calls for abolition. A caption below the image explains that the animal represents a true likeness of Buchanan, nicknamed “ten cent Jimmy” after he stated his belief that ten cents was a fair daily wage for manual laborers. The print also refers to Buchanan as the candidate for the “Damed-Black-Rat Party,” a play on the word, “Democrat.” The cartoon also contains two songs, “Old Buck’s Song,” and Fremont’s Song.” The first attacks Buchanan while the second celebrates John C. Fremont, the Republican candidate for President. The print ends with a postscript, “‘Jimmy’ you cannot win.” Although the use of the word “Hunkers” hints that the broadside was presumably distributed in New York, it claims to have been printed at “Freedom’s Office, Fremont Peak, Rocky Mountains.” This alludes to Fremont’s earlier exploring expeditions in the American West.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: World
topic: label: Subject
content: Livestock
label: Subject
content: Political Parties
label: Subject
content: Political Caricatures
label: Subject
content: Donkeys
label: referenced
content: Civil War
label: related event
content: Civil War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: American Civil War Prints
label: See more items in
content: Art
label: See more items in
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.60.2480
label: catalog number
content: 60.2480
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Woodcut
label: Object Type
content: Broadside
label: Object Type
content: Woodcut
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 12 in x 8 in; 30.48 cm x 20.32 cm