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 The Democratic National Convention

 


 “A Victim of Circumstances”
  Cartoonist:  William Allen Rogers
  Source:  Harper's Weekly
  Date:   July 14, 1900, p. 662

Click to see a large version of this cartoon...

Click to see a large version of this cartoon

Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
This cartoon shows the ill fate of former senator David B. Hill of New York, boss of the Democratic state party machine. At the Democratic National Convention on July 4-6, Hill was effectively silenced on the money question by Tammany Hall boss Richard Croker, who replaced him on the Resolutions Committee with Augustus Van Wyck, a leading Tammanyite who voted for the free-silver plank. Hill backed off his threat of a convention floor fight on the issue when Croker warned that he would be shut out of New York politics if he did. Hill lost the vice presidential nod to Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, but the enthusiastic response when the former senator’s name was placed in nomination reflected widespread animosity toward both Tammany Hall and sustaining the futile free-silver issue. Here, Hill is dressed as a rebel Chinese Boxer with his head in a pillory labeled “16-to-1” (the proposed ratio of silver to gold). The “I am a Dem-agogue” phrase mocks his famous statement of partisan loyalty, “I am a Democrat.”

 

 

 

 
 

 

     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 

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