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The Bosses of the Senate

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Keppler's 1889 cartoon depicts monopolists as dominating American politics as the 'Bosses of the Senate'.

The Bosses of the Senate is an American political cartoon by Joseph Keppler,[1][2] published in the January 23, 1889, issue of Puck magazine.[3][4]

The cartoon depicts the United States Senate as a body under the control of "captain of industry" robber barons representing trusts in various industries,[5] who are depicted as obese, domineering, and powerful figures with swollen money bags for bodies, with their nature being juxtaposed with that of the senators of the 50th Congress, who Keppler implies are under the industrialists' control. The cartoon discusses with concern the rise of US industry in the post-Civil War Gilded Age,[2][6] the expanding influence of monopolies and trusts, and the role of lobbying in American politics. It is generally recognised as an early antitrust cartoon which had played a role in the development of the Sherman Antitrust Act.[7]

According to the United States Senate, it is a "frequently reproduced cartoon, long a staple of textbooks and studies of Congress".[4] NPR has called the cartoon "the defining image of late 19th-century Washington."[8] Historian Josh Brown has stated that it "expresses general public discontent and concern about the growing impact and power of large businesses" and "their control over the political process".[9]

Some contemporary commentators have asserted that such corporate interests still have immense power over lawmakers in modern-day America.[10]

According to BunkHistory, the image is in the public domain.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Driving Question: Analyze and identify the causes of the rise of Populism in the 1890's" (PDF). University of South Carolina.
  2. ^ a b c "From Progress to Poverty: America's Long Gilded Age". Bunk. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  3. ^ "The Bosses of the Senate". Library of Congress. 1889. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Keppler, Joseph (1889). "U.S. Senate: The Bosses of the Senate". www.senate.gov. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  5. ^ Lee, Miranda (2017). "The Bosses of the Senate". prezi.com. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  6. ^ "Handout B: "The Bosses of the Senate"". Bill of Rights Institute. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  7. ^ "Anti-trust cartoon depicting giant corporations as 'the bosses of the Senate', 1889 (colour litho)". Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  8. ^ "NPR: Bosses of the Senate – Big Money and Politics". legacy.npr.org. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  9. ^ NBC News, Bosses of the Senate, retrieved November 20, 2022 – via YouTube
  10. ^ "The Bosses of the Senate". Daily Kos. December 22, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
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