Depicted in the Thomas Nast’s political cartoon is Boss Tweed. Boss Tweed, William Magear Tweed, was born on April 3, 1823 in New York, New York. After a failing to win the election for city alderman in 1850, he was successfully elected in 1852. Tweed was also elected to congress in 1852. In 1856 he was elected to the New York City Board of Supervisors, this was the first political office which would be used for corrupt purposes. Tweed was once quoted saying, “I don’t care who does the electing, so long as I do the nominating.” – Boss Tweed (A&E Television Networks). The reason he was able to win the election was because of his growing influence in New York Politics. He worked on strengthening his position of power in Tammany Hall, the headquarters for The Democratic political machine. He was backed by most of the Irish population because …show more content…
There are many symbols in this political cartoon but there are a few which standout above the rest. Boss Tweed and his accomplice are dressed in jail uniforms. This is referring to Tweed and his accomplices being a thieves by laundering millions of dollars from the City of New York. He also appears to be smirking which usually is a symbol that means someone is up to no good. The Second symbol is that of the Big “S” for “Supreme” being portrayed as a huge Dollar sign. (A&E Telivision Networks) The dollar sign is a symbol mocking the fact that the courts were getting a lot of money from Tweed’s bail, since he was able to pay the bail to avoid jail. For his first sentence he had a 1 million dollar bail fee. Then his next bail was set at 8 million dollars, which he was also able to pay off. The next symbol in the political cartoon is the “Red tape” which symbolizes “excessive formality and routine required before official action can be taken.” (Dictionary.com) This symbolizes that the Supreme court has their hands tied in the whole Tweed