A Peep into the Antifederal Club political cartoon, 1793
Permanent ID:
11579Call number:
Bc 612 P345Language:
EnglishDate:
August 16 1793Image Description:
In this chaotic scene, prominent Anti-Federalists are mocked and caricatured as naive fools, as children playing with toys, as drunkards, as traitors, and as radicals. At the center of the scene a man several historians assume is Thomas Jefferson quotes Shakespeare; to his left is a drunken man with his shirt open and a gun in his waistband, cursing the government, and a fat man drinking wine who toasts "damnation to the federal government." The latter may be Dr. James Hutchinson, a prominent Pennsylvania Democrat. To Jefferson's right is a man wearing a naval hat and dark glasses, quoting "ca ira," a French revolutionary song, and, to his right, a well-dressed man who presents a "plan of an entire subversion of the government." They may be Commodore James Nicholson, a Revolutionary War naval hero, and Edmond-Charles Genet (Citizen Genet), French ambassador to the United States during the French Revolution. To his right, a white man asks a black man, whom he calls "Citizen Mungo," what he thinks. Citizen Mungo replies "our turn next." Below Jefferson, a man some assume to be either George or DeWitt Clinton, sits on the ground singing a song and holding a tiny man (or perhaps a doll) sitting in the palm of his hand. This tiny man may be Robert R. Livingston. At the left of the scene, Philadelphia astronomer and Anti-Federalist looks through a telescope and wishes "for such a government as they have in Saturn," while the devil sits on the ground next to a box labeled "sacred records," expressing satisfaction. At the top left corner of the scene, a banner proclaims the "Creed of the Democratic Club."Format:
Etchings; Engravings; Political cartoonsPublisher:
Collection:
Historical Society of Pennsylvania large graphics collectionRelated People or Organizations:
Unknown Artist (artist)Moloshok, Rachel (Transcribed by)
Moloshok, Rachel (Encoded by)
Historical Society of Pennsylvania (repository)
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826 (depicted)
George Clinton, 1739-1812 (depicted)
Clinton, DeWitt, 1769-1828 (depicted)
Nicholson, James, 1737-1804 (depicted)
Genet, Edmond Charles, 1763-1834 (depicted)
James Hutchinson, 1752-1793 (depicted)
Livingston, Robert R., 1746-1813 (depicted)