amuel Tilden, the Democratic presidential nominee in 1876, was again mentioned
as a possible presidential candidate in 1880. Partly because of health reasons,
however, the elderly Tilden decided not to seek the nomination. In this cartoon,
Thomas Nast emphasizes the former New York governor's age and infirmity by
depicting him as an Egyptian "mummy" (actually, a sarcophagus housing
a mummy).
Another motive for Tilden's declination was the thwarted attempt by his nephew,
Colonel William T. Pelton, and other associates to bribe electors during the
electoral college controversy of 1876-1877, a scheme exposed and investigated by
Congress in 1878. No evidence implicated Tilden directly, but many held him
morally responsible for the actions of his subordinates, and Republicans
certainly would employ the issue were he nominated in 1880. The hieroglyphics on
the mummy (sarcophagus) refer to the "cipher telegrams" (coded
messages) that Pelton and his co-conspirators sent each other.
A final reason for staying out of the race was Tilden's fierce feud with John
Kelly, the political boss of Tammany Hall, New York City's powerful Democratic
machine. Kelly had reluctantly endorsed Tilden in 1876, but soon broke with him
when they fought for control of Democratic politics in the city and state of New
York. Here, Kelly, wearing the Tammany Tiger as a cloak, uses an ear-horn to
make sure that he heard Tilden's withdrawal correctly.
Before entering electoral politics, Tilden had become one of the nation's most
successful and wealthiest corporation lawyers, specializing in railroad law.
Because he directed several mergers of railroad companies, critics called him a
"train wrecker" and sang the campaign ditty, "Sly Sam, the
Railroad Thief." Nast pegged Tilden with the legal term
"usufruct" (i.e., using someone else's property) to remind voters of
his background as a corporation lawyer of questionable character. The cartoonist
also associated Tilden with a "barrel of money" and called his 1876
bid for the White House a "barrel campaign," implying that the
Democratic nominee used his allegedly ill-gotten gain in an attempt to buy the
election. In this cartoon, Nast places these symbols prominently in the
background.