Ulysses S. Grant: 'Captain, Tanner, Farmer, General, Imperator'

Thomas Nast's chromolithograph presents President Grant — labeled Sovereigns, No. 10 — seated in a rocking chair, legs crossed, cigar raised, wearing a dark suit with a watch-chain visible at his vest. The pose is relaxed to the point of imperial ease, which is precisely the joke: the caption's final word, Imperator, reframes Grant's catalogue of identities (tanner's son, farmer, Union general) as the résumé of a would-be Caesar. Published during Grant's re-election year, the plate targets persistent Republican-press anxieties about executive overreach and cronyism in his first term. The caricature is notably mild by 1872 standards — no grotesque distortion of Grant's features — suggesting Nast, himself a Grant admirer, softened the satirical charge.