A scarce, striking and trenchant War of 1812 political cartoon by William Charles mocking the citizens of Alexandria for their feeble defense against “Johnny Bull” during the 1814 Chesapeake campaign. Charles depicts Great Britain as a bipedal bull in sailor’s garb, wielding a saber in one “hand” and “Terms of Capitulation” in the other. To […]
View DetailsA terrific and rather rare political cartoon mocking the British for Perry’s famous victory on Lake Erie in September 1813 and Macdonough’s triumph in Plattsburg Bay on Lake Champlain the following year. In a region of few roads, these victories ensured American control of its northern frontiers at the end of the War of 1812. The image […]
View DetailsA scarce and striking political cartoon satirizing the 1814 Hartford Convention, at which delegates from New England states contemplated secession from the Union. Background: The War of 1812 Following the ratification of the Constitution and against the hopes of the Founders, American politics rapidly organized into a two-party system that approximately mirrored sectional differences: Roughly […]
View DetailsA rare political cartoon by William Charles, Bruin become Mediator satirizes a Russian attempt to mediate between Britain and the United States during the War of 1812. In early 1813 Tsar Alexander I of Russia offered to mediate between Britain and the United States, in hopes of resolving the issues that had precipitated war between those countries. […]
View DetailsA scarce and visually striking political cartoon by William Charles satirizing the failed British attack on Baltimore in September 1814. Though the British had declared a blockade of the mid-Atlantic coast early in the War of 1812, most of the first two years’ fighting took place along the American-Canadian border. In mid-1814 however, the British […]
View DetailsA scarce and striking political cartoon mocking the citizens of Alexandria, Virginia for their feeble defense during the British Chesapeake Bay campaign of August 1814. Charles depicts Great Britain as a bipedal bull in sailor’s garb, wielding a saber in one “hand” and “Terms of Capitulation” in the other. To the left two Alexandrians kneel in […]
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