Political Symbols

                                                                         

How did the elephant and the donkey images become symbols of the two leading political parties in the United States?  It seems we can thank political cartoonist Thomas Nast.  Nast was a cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly.

From infoplease (http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/donkey-elephant.html) – As early as the election 1828 some critics of Andrew Jackson referred to him a  ‘jackass’ for his political beliefs. There is some reference to an 1837 cartoon, published by HR Robinson, depicting Jackson on a the back of a donkey, followed by Martin Van Buren.  However, in a Nast an 1870 cartoon the donkey appeared representing an anti-Civil War faction.  By 1880 the image had been adopted as the symbol of the Democratic Party.

Another Nast cartoon, in 1874, featured a donkey in a lion skin frightening all the animals in the zoo, among them an elephant labeled ‘Republican vote.” The elephant quickly become the symbol of the Republican Party.

                                     

images from Wikipedia Commons