Political Cartoons

Presidential Election 2012

The Purpose of Political Cartoons

The cartoonist is giving his/her opinion on a political or other news worthy issue in a humorous pictorial fashion.

The viewer is expected to have previous content knowledge to understand the meaning of the cartoon.

Found in newspaper editorial pages and online

www.cagle.com www.politicalcartoons.com

“Join, or Die” by Benjamin FranklinTo encourage the colonies to unite against British rule.

Parts of Political Cartoons Caricature: a portrait that

exaggerates parts of a person to create an easily identifiable visual likeness that is usually funny.

Parts of Political Cartoons Symbol: something -- such

as an object, picture, written word, or sound-- that represents (or stands for) something else.

For example a red octagon is the symbol

that means "STOP". Uncle Sam symbolizes the

USA

The Democratic donkey was first used with Democrat Andrew Jackson's 1828 presidential campaign. His opponents called him a jackass (a donkey), and Jackson decided to use the image of the strong-willed animal on his campaign posters. Later, cartoonist Thomas Nast used the Democratic donkey in newspaper cartoons and made the symbol famous.

Nast invented another famous symbol—the Republican elephant. After the Republicans lost the White House to the Democrats in 1877, Nast drew a cartoon of an elephant walking into a trap set by a donkey. He chose the elephant to represent the Republicans because elephants are intelligent but easily controlled.

Democrats today say the donkey is smart and brave, while Republicans say the elephant is strong and dignified.

Symbols of Political Parties

Symbols & Labels of Political Parties

Democrats RepublicansDonkey

BlueLeft

LiberalDems

D

ElephantRed

RightConservative

GOPR