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The ship of state on a lee shore, experienced  hands coming to her rescue

The ship of state on a lee shore, experienced hands coming to her rescue

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Summary

The artist forecasts a Whig electoral victory and dramatizes the politically ruinous effects of Van Buren's fiscal policy and his alignment with Loco Foco forces in New York. Whig candidate William Henry Harrison comes to the aid of a shipwrecked vessel, the "United States," and its crew of Democrats. Harrison, wearing a sailor's outfit, retrieves editor Francis Preston Blair from the surf with a gaff hook. He stands on a raft made of barrels of "Hard Cider" rowed by Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, and flying a flag "Tippecanoe and Reform." Clinging to the hull of their capsized vessel are (left to right) Levi Woodbury, Thomas Hart Benton, John C. Calhoun, and Martin Van Buren. Only the hands of Amos Kendall remain above the waves. The vessel has run aground on "Distress Rocks" and "Loco Foco Quicksand." A lighthouse "Constitution Light" appears in the background. Webster: "Dont be losing time Old Tip picking up the worthless crew who have so long mismanaged the vessel, but let us try to get her off the rocks and save her cargo." Clay: "Aye, Aye, I'll be bound they will take care of themselves unless their pockets are so full that it will sink them." Harrison: "I have hooked one of the precious crew! Lord bless me what a scare crow." Woodbury: "I cant hang on much longer! . . . and I cant swim against this current of popular opinion." Benton (to Woodbury): "It is your infernal Wall Street kite flying and cramming your pocket so full that has capsized us . . . !" Calhoun (to Van Buren): "You are a d---d pretty lubber to take charge of the helm! I knew you were carrying too much sail for your ballast, and now you have spilt the whole lot of us." Van Buren: "I wanted to try a experiment and thought I had hard money enough to ballast my subtreasury sails, and that we should have come to a safe anchor in the harbor of public security."
Entered . . . 1840 by John Childs.
Published by John Childs, 90 Nassau St. New York.
Signed with monogram: EWC (Edward Williams Clay).
The Library's impression of the print was deposited for copyright on August 31, 1840.
Title appears as it is written on the item.
Weitenkampf, p. 66.
Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)
Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-56.

Born: Feb. 9, 1773 Died: April 4, 1841 Presidential Term: March 4, 1841 - April 4, 1841 Vice President: John Tyler William Henry Harrison, American military officer ​and politician was the ninth President of the United States (1841), the oldest President to be ​elected at the time. Delivering the longest inaugural address in U.S. history, he came down with pneumonia that made his 30-day presidency the shortest in U.S. history. On his 32nd day, he became the first to die in office, serving the shortest tenure in U.S. Presidential history. "All the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer." /William Henry Harrison/

Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States (1837-1841), after serving as the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, both under President Andrew Jackson. While the country was prosperous when the "Little Magician" was elected, less than three months later the financial panic of 1837 punctured the prosperity. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in a number of senior roles, including eighth Vice President (1833–37) and tenth Secretary of State (1829–31), both under Andrew Jackson. Van Buren's inability as president to deal with the economic chaos of the Panic of 1837 and with the surging Whig Party led to his defeat in the 1840 election. "The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity."

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Date

01/01/1840
person

Contributors

Childs, J. (John)
Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857.
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Source

Library of Congress
copyright

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No known restrictions on publication.

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