the Republican elephant, the Democratic donkey, and Uncle Sam. Publishing regularly in Harper's Weekly, the celebrated Nast drew thousands of cartoons during the second half of the nineteenth century.

His dense and meticulously labeled cartoons served as arguments for analysis and discussion, popularizing the elephant as a symbol for the Republican Party. Despite facing financial troubles later ...

The Republican elephant made its lumbering debut in an unflattering cartoon on November 7th 1874, in “The Third-Term Panic”. In it, a donkey (“N.Y. Herald”, a democratic newspaper ...

Nast would continue using Democratic donkeys and Republican elephants in his cartoons over the next dozen or so years while other cartoonists began to follow his lead. One of Nast’s favorite ...

Origins: The elephant became associated with the Republican Party also thanks to Thomas Nast. In the same 1874 cartoon mentioned above, Nast depicted an elephant labeled "The Republican Vote ...

It was German-born cartoonist Thomas Nast - a Republican - who really popularized the two symbols. The GOP elephant made its first appearance in its 1874 cartoon "The Third Term Panic," which was ...