File:Uncle Sam Sick With La Grippe 1837.jpg

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Description
English: "Uncle Sam Sick With La Grippe", an 1837 lithograph designed by Edward Williams Clay and engraved and published by H.R. Robinson of New York City, New York, in the United States.

This political satire depicts the effects of the Panic of 1837. The artist places blame for the severe recession on President Andrew Jackson and his successor, Martin Van Buren, who tried to bar the use of paper and limit money to specie (coin) as the only legal tender. Economists today blame the emphasis on specie for the recession.

The scene is an 19th century sickroom. Uncle Sam represents the United States, and wears a liberty cap, a stars-and-stripes dressing gown, and moccasins (all symbols of the United States at the time). As Uncle Sam slumps ill in a chair, his hand holds a piece of paper outlining recent bank failures and their costs.

On the left, President Andrew Jackson blames over-expansion for America's economic problems. To Jackson's right, Senator Thomas Hart Benton (a Jackson ally) promotes "mint drops" (coinage) as the proper cure. To Benton's right, President Martin Van Buren (criticized as a "weak old woman" called "Aunt Matty") blames the over-issuing of paper money for the recession.

An eagle, also representing the United States, sits on the floor and moans that it will starve to death. A broken bust of George Washington, Father of the Country ("Pater Patriae"), indicates the artist's belief that the nation is falling apart.

Seen through the window, Nicholas Biddle, prominent banker and the last president of the Second Bank of the United States, has arrived with the cure ("post notes" and "bonds", e.g., paper money). He is welcomed by Brother Jonathan, another common representation of the United States in the 18th century. Biddle says he will ask "Dr. John Bull" (he will ask banks in the United Kingdom for help).
Date
Source https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661302/
Author
Edward Williams Clay  (–1857)  wikidata:Q15532610
 
Alternative names
Edward W. Clay
Description American cartoonist
Date of birth/death 17 April 1799 / 1792 Edit this at Wikidata 31 December 1857 / 1857 Edit this at Wikidata
Location of birth Philadelphia
Authority file
creator QS:P170,Q15532610

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Public domain
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.

Public domain works must be out of copyright in both the United States and in the source country of the work in order to be hosted on the Commons. If the work is not a U.S. work, the file must have an additional copyright tag indicating the copyright status in the source country.
Note: This tag should not be used for sound recordings.PD-1923Public domain in the United States//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Uncle_Sam_Sick_With_La_Grippe_1837.jpg

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current18:49, 1 August 2018Thumbnail for version as of 18:49, 1 August 20181,139 × 775 (568 KB)Tim1965 (talk | contribs)User created page with UploadWizard

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