"What Are You Laughing At? To the Victor Belong the Spoils"

Nast renders Boss Tweed as a grotesque Roman emperor—enormous, half-armored, slumped in ruins—surrounded by the wreckage of his machine. The figure's exaggerated bulk and coarse features employ the ethnic caricature common to anti-Irish immigrant imagery of the period, coding Tammany corruption as foreign and uncivilized. Scattered at his feet: a toppled top hat, a "Tammany Bank" box, broken boots. A placard at right itemizes the November 7, 1871 election results: "The Tammany Ring Smashed." Tweed was re-elected to his alderman seat by a reduced margin—hence the bitter caption. Nast insists the "victory" is hollow; the ring's structural power is already rubble. The image appeared as Tweed's legal troubles accelerated toward his 1873 conviction.