Seventh Ward Beggars

Henry R. Robinson|Reuben Miles Whitney|Andrew Jackson

1839 · Lithograph, hand colored · Drawings and Prints

This satire criticizes President Andrew Jackson’s decision in 1832 to dissolve the Bank of the United States. From 1833, the president and his cabinet distributed government funds through "pet" state banks and, according to this print, used the system to solicit kickbacks. Kneeling bankers here implore a king-like Jackson, who holds a scepter and sits on bales of surplus cash, for funds. New York bankers were affected by this new arrangement, and the city’s Seventh Ward Bank appears in the background. The man dressed in a brown suit is identified as "a spy" for the Courier & Enquirer, a New York newspaper that reported Washington political news in detail and whose editor turned against Jacksonian populism.

Artist

Henry R. Robinson|Reuben Miles Whitney|Andrew Jackson

Date

1839

Medium

Lithograph, hand colored

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Edward W. C. Arnold Collection of New York Prints, Maps and Pictures, Bequest of Edward W. C. Arnold, 1954