Advertisement
Advertisement

Uncle Sam sick with la grippe

Updated Jun 26, 2025
Loading...one moment please loading spinner
Uncle Sam sick with la grippe
A satire attributing the dire fiscal straits of the nation to Andrew Jackson's banking policies, with specific reference to recent bank failures in New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. The artist blames the 1837 panic on Jackson's and later Van Buren's efforts to limit currency and emphasize specie (or coinage) as the circulating medium in the American economy. Missouri senator Thomas Hart Benton's role as an ally of the administration and champion of coinage (in the cartoonist's parlance "mint drops") is also attacked. In an eighteenth-century sickroom scene Uncle Sam, wearing a liberty cap, a stars-and-stripes dressing gown, and moccasins, slumps in a chair. In his hand is a paper reading "Failures / New Orleans right Nicholas Biddle arrives, with a trunk of "Post Notes" and "Bonds," and is greeted by Brother Jonathan. Jonathan: "Oh Docr. Biddle I'm so glad you're come. Uncle Sam's in a darned bad way . . ." Biddle: "I'll try what I can do . . . & I've sent to Dr. John Bull for his assistance." The print is dated 1834 by Weitenkampf, but it must have appeared after Van Buren's victory in the 1836 presidential election, given Uncle Sam's remark, "You are to nurse me now Aunt Matty." Nancy Davison's date of 1837 is more credible. Most likely it was issued during the spring of that year, after the collapse of the cotton market and several banks in New Orleans and the subsequent failure of many New York banks in March. In April Nicholas Biddle's Pennsylvania state bank came to the aid of the ailing banking community by buying up considerable numbers of bonds and notes.
Date & Place:
Comments
Leave a comment
The simple act of leaving a comment shows you care.
Share this photo:
Advertisement

Topic related photos

Library of Congress
Library of Congress
Historic and vintage photographs contained in the United States Library of Congress.
The U.S. Library of Congress is the oldest and largest library in the United States, second in the world only to The British Library. Established on April 24th, 1800 the Library of Congress includes ...
821k+ photos
1800s
1800s
The 1800s where the end of the industrial revolution and the birth of scientists.
The Industrial Revolution began around 1760 and ran through the 1840's. Then began the birth of the profession of science. Louis Pasteur, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Thomas Edison, and Nikola Te...
Medical
Medical
Did you know medics, doctors and nurses used to prescribe narcotics as treatment?
Radium water, cough syrup made of alcohol, marijuana, and morphine, cocaine toothache drops for children, snake oil - medicine has changed quite a bit in the past 100 years or so, as has the way that ...
Advertisement

Followers

AncientFaces
This account is shared by Community Support (Kathy Pinna & Daniel Pinna & Lizzie Kunde) so we can quickly answer any questions you might have. Please reach out and message us here if you have any questions, feedback, requests to merge biographies, or just want to say hi!
2020 marks 20 years since the inception of AncientFaces. We are the same team who began this community so long ago. Over the years it feels, at least to us, that our family has expanded to include so many. Thank you!
Advertisement
Back to Top