The Game-Cock & The Goose

What it is

This is a lithograph cartoon from 1852 by John L. Magee, made during the presidential campaign of that year. It shows Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate, riding a giant gamecock, while Franklin Pierce, the Democratic candidate, rides a goose. Speech bubbles show the two men taunting each other.

Why it matters

Campaign cartoons like this one shaped how ordinary Americans saw candidates before modern media existed. The joke about Pierce fainting referred to a real incident in the Mexican War, when he collapsed from an old injury. The goose was a common insult used against Democrats at the time. The cartoon shows how political opponents used ridicule, not just argument, to attack Pierce.

Look closer

• What do the animals each man rides suggest about how the artist wanted viewers to judge them?
• Why might a cartoonist exaggerate a real wartime event into a joke?
• Whose side is this cartoon clearly taking, and how can you tell?