The Wasp — 1879 — page 90: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This September 1879 *San Francisco Wasp* cartoon satirizes the newly ratified California Constitution. The image depicts animals performing a circus act on a precarious wooden beam labeled "Sand Lot," with a speech bubble noting "When the new constitution was new." The cartoon suggests the Constitution was unstable and built on shaky ground—literally a sand lot. The animals (appearing to include donkeys and other creatures) represent political figures or groups struggling to balance on this uncertain foundation. The "Royal Sand-Lot Circus" title mocks the grandiosity of California's constitutional experiment as mere entertainment rather than serious governance. The satire implies the new Constitution was poorly constructed and unable to sustain stable government.