Practice: DBQ Prep: Political Cartoons
Your Assignment
Read the pages in your textbook that relate to this topic.
The readings associated with this lesson can be found in America: A Narrative History.
In America: A Narrative History, you will:
•read the chapter about Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.
Answer the questions relating to the political cartoons provided.
What You Turn In
You will turn in your answers to the questions asked about three cartoons.
Any political cartoon, whether contemporary or historical, represents a snapshot of an artist's perspective. In this Assignment you'll look at four political cartoons drawn during the Jacksonian era. Answering the five questions …show more content…
Sample Cartoon: "Office Hunters"
1. Who is/are portrayed in this cartoon? In this cartoon, the character with devilish features flying above the others is Andrew Jackson. The smaller figures at the bottom are men and women who appear to be very happy.
Note: Obviously, Jackson's face would be much more familiar to his contemporaries than it would be to someone living in the early twenty-first century! When you look at a political cartoon from the past, it may take some work to identify the person or event being portrayed.
2. What's going on in this cartoon? Jackson appears as a flying devil and dangles items over the heads of the people below. These people reach up to take Jackson's offerings. Upon closer inspection, you see that the people aren't necessarily happy. Perhaps Andrew Jackson is offering positions and favors to individuals.
3. What symbols are used in this cartoon?
In this cartoon, the most prominent symbol is the devil.
4. What's the political bias of the cartoonist? In this cartoon, the artist is clearly anti-Jackson; one wouldn't praise a president by portraying him as a