Donkey vs. elephant
In a few months, voters in the United States will choose the person who will become president for the next four years. You’ve probably heard a lot about the candidates. One is the current president, Donald Trump. The other, Joe Biden, was President Barack Obama’s vice president. You might have also seen the donkey and elephant as symbols of the parties the candidates represent. So have you ever wondered where those symbols came from?
The donkey and the elephant
In 1828, a man named Andrew Jackson ran for president. He was a Democrat and believed American politics was full of rich people who were corrupting the government. He was known as stubborn, and his opponents gave him an impolite nickname, implying that he was as stubborn as a donkey. But Andrew Jackson wasn’t offended. He liked the nickname and started using a donkey on his campaign posters. Naturally, the donkey eventually became a symbol of the Democratic Party.
The elephant became associated with the Republican Party during the Civil War. At the time, soldiers used the expression “seeing the elephant” as a way to say they’d been to battle. But neither of these symbols stuck around very long until a man called Thomas Nast came along.
Thomas Nast and his legacy
Thomas Nast was a political cartoonist, which is a person who draws comics about government officials. Those comics are meant to get people thinking about things that are happening, and are meant to be persuasive. You can usually tell what the artist thinks about a situation. He is probably most famous for his criticism of a man called William Tweed, also known as “Boss” Tweed, who ran a corrupt political group in New York.
Nast drew a lot of political cartoons, and he is credited with making the donkey and elephant famous symbols of the parties. And in fact, the Republicans eventually adopted the elephant as their official symbol. They say the elephant is strong and smart, while their opponents say elephants are pompous. Democrats believe the donkey is humble and brave, while their opponents say it is stubborn and not very smart.