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Tilden the Hungry Wolf |
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"Tilden's Wolf at the Door" |
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Cartoonist: Thomas Nast |
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Source: Harper's Weekly |
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Date:
September 16, 1876, pp. 756-757
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Click to return to previous version of this
cartoon |
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Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
In 1876 a proposed constitutional amendment was introduced into Congress, which
would have prohibited any government body (federal, state, territorial,
district, or municipal) from allocating funds to the schools or other
institutions of any religious (or anti-religious) sect, denomination, or
organization. (The proposed amendment explicitly protected Bible-reading in
schools.) Presidential nominee Rutherford Hayes and most of his fellow
Republicans endorsed the amendment, but it failed to gain sufficient
Congressional backing. Ultimately, though, the movement was successful in
keeping most public funds away from religious schools.
This Thomas Nast cartoon treats the Catholic attempt to secure a share of public
funds for their parochial schools as a menace to the public school system (see "Education" in Issues). At the door is a
hungry wolf, representing an alliance of the Democratic party and the
"foreign" Catholic Church. The students of this multi-ethnic public
school-white, black, Chinese, and other children-join together to hinder the
wolf's entrance, while Uncle Sam reaches for a rifle. Signs attest to the
public-school system as the "bulwark of the American republic" and
denounce "public funds to sectarian schools." |
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