This Little Boy Would Persist in Handling Books Above His Capacity

A two-panel sequence skewering President Andrew Johnson during his impeachment crisis. Left: a small, round-faced figure—caricatured with an oversized head and stubby body meant to diminish Johnson's dignity—climbs a library ladder to muscle a massive volume labeled Constitution of U.S. from its shelf. The caption reads, This Little Boy would persist in handling Books Above His Capacity. Right: the ladder has toppled, the Constitution lies flat on the floor, and tiny legs poke out from beneath it—Johnson crushed by the very document he mishandled. Nast's argument is blunt: Johnson's vetoes and Reconstruction obstruction were not principled constitutionalism but dangerous incompetence, and the ongoing impeachment proceedings were the inevitable, deserved result.