The origin of the Democratic Donkey can be traced back to the presidential campaign of Andrew Jackson in 1828 because Jackson had populist beliefs, people opposed to these beliefs called him a jackass. A jackass is another name for a donkey, and Jackson, refusing to let this insult bring him down adopted the symbol and incorporated it into his presidential campaign. The image of the donkey began appearing on Jackson's presidential campaign posters and soon a political cartoonist named Thomas Nast took notice of the donkey's prevalence in Jackson's campaign and soon incorporated it into his own work. One of his most famous cartoons depicts the donkey dressed in a lion's skin and all of the other animals in the zoo running away from the "terrifying" beast. Nast's use of the donkey in his cartoons helped to establish its place in the popular culture of the age and its place in history as the symbol of the Democratic Party.
Thomas Nast also played a role in helping the symbol of the elephant become associated with the Republican party. In the same cartoon mentioned above, there was one exception to the animals running away from the donkey dressed as a lion, a bull elephant refused to run away from the animal, indicating the strength of the party. Nast's Republican beliefs also played a role in how he portrayed the different parties in his cartoons, another famous cartoon depicts the elephant harnessing the donkey, indicating that it is the dominant party in Nast's mind.
Both of these symbols hold important positions in history and are still a part of politics today, constantly undergoing redesign to properly reflect the current state of their respective parties.
Sources
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-the-parties-got-their-animal-symbols/
https://weburbanist.com/2010/11/07/political-animal-the-ever-evolving-republican-elephant-logo/
Great post, Alex! When looking at the first picture in your article, I noticed that the stars in the Republican logo were pointing downwards. I thought this was rather strange, so I did a bit of investigating. Apparently, the logo had a quiet and sudden reversal prior to George W. Bush's 2000 campaign, though some earlier merchandise had upside-down stars too. On all the sources I looked at, no one could really explain why the stars now pointed down. It is especially strange when considering the highly religious follower base of the Republican party, since the upside-down star is similar to the pentagram, a sign of evil in the Christian religion. Additionally, there is a law concerning "Respect for the Flag", which states, "The flag should never be displayed with the union... down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.” Since the stars represent the states, it's strange that the stars would point downward for seemingly no reason. Thanks for sharing your post!
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The reason for our current parties' logos is something I have wondered for a long time, so I am glad that you were able to publish this post. I was wondering why Nast would have chosen the elephant for the Republican party, so after some brief research I found that it is thought that it originated during the Civil War on a Republican party illustration somewhere. Back then, "seeing the elephant" was used by soldiers to mean seeing combat.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.history.com/news/ask-history/how-did-the-republican-and-democratic-parties-get-their-animal-symbols
Again Alex with an amazing post! I thought your post was fantastic and original. I myself had never considered that there was even a story behind the logo's and found your piece super interesting and an overall fun and educational read. Something super cool I found was actually about the cartoonist Thomas Nast. Apparently Nast who worked for Harper Magazine and developed the logos also invented the version of Santa Claus we know who has a big belly and red clothes. He apparently also was the one who decided that Santa lived in the North Pole, and that was where children could send their wishes.
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This was a really interesting post! I was reading up on the Republican party elephant and it is widely debated that the elephant originated back to Lincoln's campaign of 1860. It was after this that Thomas Nast made is popular.
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This is a creative and unique post about the origins of symbols we know and see in our everyday lives. On a regular basis the average American should be able to tell what those symbols stand for, and what their political purpose is, but very few know the true origin of these popular animals. Animals are usually associated with personality traits. Owls are wise, elephants are strong with never ending memories, and lions are the strongest. These characteristics being associated with political parties makes arguments for the characteristics the leaders of these political parties want associated with their parties.
ReplyDeleteThis was a vert interesting post! It's interesting to see the history as to how these logos came about. As you stated at the end of your post, the redesigning is still ever so present. It's very intriguing to think about this from a psychological perspective. People associate certain images with specific emotions and thoughts all the time, and this arguably an example of such a phenomenon. This post has made me wonder what other iconic American symbols exist and how have they impacted American culture/thought in addition to my own personal beliefs.
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