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Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
An election-year cartoon invoking both Grant's humble beginnings as a tanner and his successful Civil War military career. Before the war Grant had worked in his family's leather goods establishments in Galena, Illinois, earning the later nickname, "the Galena tanner."
New York gubernatorial candidate John Hoffman, dressed as an Indian-the "Great Sachem of Tammany," presents Democratic nominees Horatio Seymour and Frank Blair to Grant (center). Hoffman was a leader of New York City's Tammany Hall Democrats. He addresses Grant, "Here General is a couple more hides to be tanned when will they be done?" Grant smokes a cigar and wears the leather apron of a tanner, rolled-up sleeves exposing his muscular arms. He replies, "Well I'll finish them off early in November." Source: American Political Prints, 1766 - 1876: A Catalog of the Collections in the Library of Congress, 1991, by Bernard F. Reilly, Jr. |
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