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Primary sourcePainting23 January 1889

The Bosses of the Senate

Joseph Keppler · 23 January 1889

An 1889 political cartoon showing giant trust 'money-bags,' including Standard Oil, looming over the U.S. Senate.

Standard Oil, Rockefeller's company, is depicted among the trusts shown dominating the Senate in this famous cartoon.

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Political cartoon from the magazine Puck titled 'The Bosses of the Senate.' Large caricatured trust figures in top hats and frock coats, labeled with trust names like Steel Beam, Copper, and Standard Oil, fill the gallery above a Senate chamber of seated lawmakers at desks. A sign reads 'This is Senate of the Monopolists, by the Monopolists, for the Monopolists.' Signed by J. Keppler.
Joseph Keppler, The Bosses of the Senate, Puck, 1889.

About this source

What it is

This is a political cartoon by Joseph Keppler, published in Puck magazine in January 1889. It shows the Senate chamber dominated by huge caricatured figures representing industrial trusts, including Standard Oil.

Why it matters

The cartoon captured public anger at the growing power of trusts and monopolies during the Gilded Age, and at lobbying's influence over lawmakers. It became one of the most reproduced images of the era and is seen as contributing to the push for antitrust laws like the Sherman Act. As head of Standard Oil, Rockefeller was one of the industrialists this kind of criticism targeted.

Look closer

  • Why did the cartoonist draw the trusts as giant money-bags instead of ordinary people?
  • What does the sign reading about a 'Senate of the Monopolists' suggest about the cartoonist's opinion?
  • What is left out of a cartoon like this that a written account might include?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of John D. Rockefeller on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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