This cartoon mocks Republican presidential nominee James Blaine's foreign policy
in general, and his anti-British stance in particular; the latter of which was,
critics charged, slanted to appeal to Irish-American voters who usually voted
Democratic. (For a more complete explanation, see "Is This 'The True
American Policy'?"). Dressed ridiculously in ill-fitting armor, Blaine
solicits for Irish votes, having pierced the British Lion with an American
flagpole. The presidential nominee, a former secretary of state, is armed with
the sword of a "vigorous foreign policy," which worried the
Independent (Mugwump) Republicans who bolted their party to endorse Democratic
nominee Grover Cleveland.
Warning
1860
