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Nast & the Birth of the Political Cartoon
Every plate we can restore — the full run.
Thomas Nast, drawing for Harper's Weekly through the 1860s, '70s and '80s, effectively invented the American political cartoon. He gave us the Republican elephant and the Democratic donkey, fixed the modern image of Santa Claus, and hounded Boss Tweed's Tammany ring out of power with a pen. This is the archive of his work we have recovered and restored — public domain, digitally cleaned and labeled at comicbooks.com.
"1775 — Another 'Shot Heard Round the World' — 1875"
"All Hail and Farewell to the Pacific Railroad."
"Any Thing for Revenge!" — A La Commune
"Don't let us have any more of this nonsense. It is a good trait to stand by one's friends; but —"
"For he's a jolly good fellow, so say we all of us"
"Halt!" — Thomas Nast, 1874
"Help! Help!"
"Move On!" Has the Native American No Rights That the Naturalized American Is Bound to Respect?
"No Interference"
New Year's in the North — Harper's Weekly Cover, January 2, 1864
New Year's Day in the South
"Thank God for Maryland Freeing Her Slaves" — from *Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1864*
"What Are You Laughing At? To the Victor Belong the Spoils"
"Where Is the Enemy?" — A Plate of Civil War Sketches
'There Comes the Alabama' and Other Scenes — Thomas Nast Composite Plate
Abraham Lincoln, Our Martyred President — April 15, 1865
The Surrender of Gen. Lee and His Army to Lieut. Gen. Grant
'The Savior's Entry into Jerusalem' — Palm Sunday as Reconstruction Allegory
'The Conquering Hero' — Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Triumph
Palm Sunday
Victory and Death
"Merry Christmas" — Harper's Weekly Holiday Plate, December 30, 1865
Our Watering-Places—Views at Long Branch
Christmas to All — Thomas Nast's Holiday Plate, Harper's Weekly
Long Branch—Seaside Life (after Thomas Nast)
Merry Christmas to All
Our Watering-Places — Views at Long Branch
A Group of Vultures Waiting for the Storm to "Blow Over" — "Let Us Prey"
Our Arms Victorious
"Peace — Good Will Towards Men," Harper's Weekly, 1865
"Peace — Good Will Towards Men," Harper's Weekly, July 8, 1865
Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum — Massacre of the Innocents at New Orleans, July 30, 1866
Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum
A Negro Regiment in Action
A Night Scout in the Southwest – Surprise of an Outpost, and Survey of the Rebel Guns
A Rebel Guerrilla Raid In A Western Town
After the Battle — The Rebels in Possession of the Field
A Republican Form of Government, and No Domestic Violence
And Not This Man? (August 1865)
This Little Boy Would Persist in Handling Books Above His Capacity
Andrew Johnson Weeping Over the 1866 National Union Convention
Another Sedan
Arrival of a Federal Column at a Planter's House in Dixie
Barkis Trumbull
Both Sides of the Question
"Bottom Facts"
Johann Most: When His Skin Is Not In Danger, And— / When It Is
Carpetbagger
"Caught!"
Christmas Eve, 1863
Christmas Eve
Church and State — No Union Upon Any Terms
Christmas Eve
Civil Service Reform
Colored Rule in a Reconstructed State
Columbia between thieves and scandal (Nast cartoon, 1872)
Come One Come All, Free and Equal
Compromise With the South
Compromise with the South — Dedicated to the Chicago Convention
Confederate Army Crossing the Potomac for the Invasion of Maryland
Conkling vs. Trumbull
"A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" (1870)
Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction
"Here's a Pretty Mess!" (In Wyoming)
Belmont Snipe Hunt
Death at the Polls, and Free from "Federal Interference"
EMANCI4
Effect of the Vote on the Eleventh Article of Impeachment
Emancipation
Emancipation of the Negroes – The Past and the Future
"Every Dog Has His Day" (1879)
Franchise. And Not This Man?
The Third-Term Panic
General Sheridan Stands by His Dispatches
Give the Natives a Chance, Mr. Carl
The Government of the City of New York; What That 'Ere "Honorable Body" Will Come To
Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac
Grand Masquerade Ball of the Arion Society at the Academy of Music, New York
Grant Blown on by a Cabal of Senators
Grant Civil Service Reform
Grant Inflation Bill Veto
Grant asks Schurz to play on a Flute
Grant Liberal Gratitude
Greeley Cincinnatus
'The War Is Over': National Thanksgiving, December 1865
Thanksgiving, 1865: Peace, Liberty, and Plenty
'Slavery Is Dead (?)'
Hang Thaddeus
We Accept the Situation
The Georgetown Election—The Negro at the Ballot-Box
Portrait of Thomas Nast
Abraham Lincoln and the Drummer-Boy
Infanticide
Was It Not a Rum Disaster, After All, at Spuyten Duyvil?
Pacific Chivalry – Encouragement to Chinese Immigration
Time Works Wonders
Historic Examples of Southern Chivalry — Dedicated to Jeff. Davis
Honi-Soit-Qui-Mal-Y-Pense
In Memoriam—Our Civil Service As It Was
Jack-in-the-Box
King Andy Johnson: My Kingdom for a Horse
Leaders of the Democratic Party
Let Us Have Complete Restoration, While You Are About It
Liberal Republicans Surrender
Liberal Thomas W. Tipton
Liberty Is Not Anarchy
Death on Economy
Lightning Speed of Honesty
Making Caps
Manager Lincoln
Matched (?)
The Meeting of Nast and Watterson in Central Jersey
Merry Old Santa Claus
The Modern Samson
Monster Democratic Torch-Light Procession Passing Through Union Square, N.Y.C.
Lady Columbia Shields Grant
Two Editors at Odds
Ignis Fatuus
Nast Asks Pardon
Mud on the White House
The Liberal Tipton
"Let Us Clasp Hands Over the Bloody Chasm"
Southern Justice
Nast's Portrait of "Dick" Connolly
A Group of Vultures Waiting for the Storm to "Blow Over" — "Let Us Prey"
"The Brains" — Thomas Nast, 1871
The Third-Term Panic
Nathan Bedford Forrest
On the Move
Patience until the Indian is Civilised—so to speak
Peace Insecure—Afraid for Her Life
Peace Secure — Safe and Protected
Pardon and Franchise
Peace Secure—Safe and Protected
Policy: A Kick in the Right Direction
President Lincoln Entering Richmond, April 4, 1865
"Time Works Wonders"
Romish Politics — Anything to Beat Grant
Santa Claus in Camp
Santa Claus in Camp
Santa Claus in Camp
Santa Claus on Stage, 1890
Schurz and Nye
Schurz and Sheridan and Red Man
Schurz and Sumner Cooking
Mephistopheles at Work for Destruction: A Bid for the German Vote
Schurz and Trumbull as Richard III and Gloucester
Schurz Carpenter
Orders from Schurz
Schurz Conspirators
Schurz Corruption
Schurz Departing Interior Department
Schurz and the German Vote
The Insult Returned
Carl's Boomerang: Schurz and the French Arms Investigation
Which Is the Better Able to Pocket the Other?
Schurz Germania
Schurz Greeley Joker
Schurz Greeley Monkey
Schurz & Gratz Brown
Schurz Have Patience With Indians
(Lo) The (Poor) Indian Bureau
Carl Schurz in a Trash Receptacle
Schurz Played Out
Schurz Quijote
Schurz & Reid Duet
Whose Funeral Is It?
Schurz Indian Bureau 2
Senatorial Round House
Smell of Tammany
Sumner Lion
"The Brains" That Achieved the Tammany Victory at the Rochester Democratic Convention
The British Lion Disarmed
The Chicago Platform (1864)
The Chinese Question
The Colored Volunteer
The Copperhead Party—In Favor of a Vigorous Prosecution of Peace!
The Crowning Insult to Him Who Occupies the Presidential Chair
The Cradle of Liberty in Danger
The European Plan
The Good (Pure White) Shepherd
The Greek Slave
The Ignorant Vote—Honors Are Easy
The Emancipation of the Negroes, January, 1863 — The Past and the Future
"The Insult Returned" (1872)
The New Indian War: Now, No Sarcastic Innuendoes, But Let Us Have a Square Fight
The Political Death of the Bogus Cæsar
The Rebel Army Crossing the Fords of the Potomac for the Invasion of Maryland
The Same Ultramontane Cat All Over The World
The Union as It Was
The Union As It Was / The Lost Cause, Worse Than Slavery
The Whirligig of Time
The Tearful Convention
The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things
This Little Boy Would Persist in Handling Books Above His Capacity / And This Was the Disastrous Result
Liberty Is Not Anarchy
Another Shot Heard Round the World
Thomas Nast, "Bottom Facts" (1876)
"This Little Boy Would Persist in Handling Books Above His Capacity"
The New Orleans Convention or Massacre — Which Is the More Illegal?
Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make
"A Truce — Not a Compromise"
Compromise—Indeed!
Tilden or Blood
Tilden's "Wolf at the Door, Gaunt and Hungry" — Don't Let Him In
Twenty Two Negro Prisoners Burned to Death
Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner
Unconditional Surrender Grant
United States Sanitary Commission — "Our Heroines"
"Get Thee Behind Me, (Mrs.) Satan!"
"We Accept the Situation"
"What a Fall Was There, My Countrymen!"
What a Trifle May Embroil Nations!
What the Colored Race Have to Be Thankful For
"Why We (Republicans) Laugh" — B. F. Butler and S. S. Cox
Bust-Length Portrait of Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast Among His Caricatures
Portrait of Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast: Portrait Photograph
The Pioneers of American Caricature
Portrait of Thomas Nast, Reproduced in *The History of the Nineteenth Century in Caricature*
Thomas Nast, Photographer's Portrait
Thomas Nast, American Cartoonist
Thomas Nast, by John White Alexander, 1887
Thomas Nast, Photographer's Portrait
Portrait of Thomas Nast, c. 1860–1865
Portrait of Thomas Nast, c. 1860–1865
Thomas Nast, American Cartoonist
"HERE!" (New Hampshire heard from.) The True "Military Ring."
No Rest for the Wicked — Sentenced to More Hard Labor
Thomas Nast, Portrayed by Napoleon Sarony
As Tom Nast Predicted It
The Compliments of the Season, A La Carte
Portrait of Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast (c. 1860–1870)
Andy's Trip: "Who Has Suffered More for You and for This Union Than Andrew Johnson?"
All works shown are in the public domain, digitally restored by ComicBooks.com.