Judge — August 21, 1920 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The First Yankee Salesman" This political cartoon, drawn by Angus MacDonald, satirizes early American commercial expansion. It depicts a Native American and a well-dressed businessman conducting a land transaction. The figure on the right, representing American enterprise, appears to be showing fabric or material—possibly referencing cheap manufactured goods—while negotiating over Plymouth Rock, the historical symbol of America's founding. The caption "It's dirt cheap at fifty acres per yard" is the satirical punchline, suggesting dishonest dealings where Americans sell worthless manufactured goods in exchange for vast land holdings from Native Americans. The cartoon critiques American commercial practices and exploitative colonial-era trade dynamics as fundamentally dishonest, portraying the "Yankee salesman" as duplicitous from the nation's very beginning.