Name/Title
CE 1871 Thomas Nast, The President of the United States and His Cabinet, for 1872Description
Thomas Nast (1840–1902)
Published in Harper’s Weekly, Vol. 15, No. 765
New York, August 26, 1871
Wood engraving on paper
p. 788
This political cartoon by Thomas Nast satirizes New York City’s Tammany Ring, the political organization centered on William M. “Boss” Tweed that controlled substantial portions of city government through patronage, political influence, and corruption.
Nast imagines members of the Tweed circle as a prospective presidential administration for 1872. Tweed occupies the central position holding a paper labeled “Political Economy by Boss Tweed,” with New York governor John T. Hoffman partly concealed behind him. Surrounding caricatures assign members and associates of the Ring federal cabinet positions: Richard B. Connolly as Secretary of the Treasury, Peter B. Sweeny as Secretary of State, A. Oakey Hall as Attorney General, James H. Ingersoll as Secretary of War, James Fisk Jr. as Secretary of the Navy, Thomas C. Fields as Postmaster General, and Andrew J. Garvey as Secretary of the Interior.
At bottom, Nast extends the satire by presenting Hoffman as the supposed presidential candidate for 1872 alongside an emblem for the “Tammany Ring.” The cartoon appeared during Nast’s sustained campaign in Harper’s Weekly against Tweed and Tammany Hall. Rather than depicting an actual proposed presidential cabinet, the fictitious administration enlarges the problem of municipal corruption to the national level: what would American government look like if the political practices attributed to the Ring were transferred to Washington?
Nast’s cartoons became an important component of the contemporary campaign against Tweed. This example appeared on August 26, 1871, during a concentrated sequence of Harper’s Weekly cartoons attacking the Ring. The Library of Congress identifies the published image as a wood engraving measuring approximately 42.4 × 29.7 cm.Create Date
May 30, 2026Update Date
September 4, 2026