The prairie dog sickened at the sting of the hornet or a diplomatic puppet exhibiting his deceptions / J[ames] Akin, fect.

James Akin's earliest-known signed cartoon, "The Prairie Dog" is an anti-Jefferson satire, relating to Jefferson's covert negotiations for the purchase of West Florida from Spain in 1804. Jefferson, as a scrawny dog, is stung by a hornet with Napoleon's head into coughing up "Two Millions" in gold coins, (the secret appropriation Jefferson sought from Congress for the purchase). On the right dances a man (possibly a French diplomat) with orders from French minister Talleyrand in his pocket and maps of East Florida and West Florida in his hand. He says, "A gull for the People."

Title appears as written on print.

The print was probably published in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where Akin was working in 1804-6.

Trimmed to within plate.

Quimby, no. 41

Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1804-1.

Exhibited: "Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis Clark and the Revealing of America,"Library of Congress, 2003.

florida purchase of jefferson thomas talleyrand etchings hand colored political cartoons prairie dog prairie dog hornet puppet deceptions akin fect vintage images 1804 cartoon prints american popular graphic arts james akin ultra high resolution high resolution etching prints french art maps ornithology library of congress

01/01/1804

Library of Congress

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