Not a drum was heard nor a funeral note

Not a drum was heard nor a funeral note... The erosion of Democratic support for presidential hopeful Martin Van Buren is portrayed as the funeral of the Kinderhook fox. The print was deposited for copyright on May 22, 1844, one week before the Democratic National Convention squelched Van Buren's presidential ambitions by nominating James K. Polk. Former president Andrew Jackson and incumbent John Tyler, both of whom appear here, were instrumental in bringing about Van Buren's defeat. Tyler drives a rude hearse--actually a cart--laden with cabbages and the body of fox Van Buren. By Tyler's side are a bag of Mint drops, a reference to traditional, hard-money fiscal policies of the Democrats. Tyler laments, Thus do all our hopes end in Clay! Nothing left for me now but hoe-Cakes. His reference to Clay is a double entendre for Whig candidate Henry Clay; mention of Hoe-cakes may be an allusion to Tyler's Virginia origins. Tyler's poet son Robert rides on the back of the hearse, penning his 1842 epic Ahasuerus and musing, To be or not to by? is no longer the question. The cart is pulled by a scrawny nag with Andrew Jackson's head. Jackson says, I have done my best to bring Foxy here! I have nothing more to do but to see him decently interred. Behind the cart walks a devil, sobbing, Oh! heavy day! I am his only mourner. I am the only friend that will never leave him. Death itself shall not divide us! He is followed by a heavyset man in a wide-brimmed hat ringing a bell and crying Bring out your dead! Several dogs also pursue the hearse. In the background is Loco Foco Hall, a small cabin with bottles of spirits lining its window-shelves and flying an inverted American flag. A fox pelt is nailed to an outside wall, and an emaciated man stands in the doorway. The Loco Focos, or radical Democrats, were an important Van Buren constituency. Beyond, on the right, is a grave freshly dug by two blacks who stand nearby. One of the gravediggers says, H Not a drum was heard nor a funeral note... The erosion of Democratic support for presidential hopeful Martin Van Buren is portrayed as the funeral of the Kinderhook fox. The print was deposited for copyright on May 22, 1844, one week before the Democratic National Convention squelched Van Buren's presidential ambitions by nominating James K. Polk. Former president Andrew Jackson and incumbent John Tyler, both of whom appear here, were instrumental in bringing about Van Buren's defeat. Tyler drives a rude hearse--actually a cart--laden with cabbages and the body of fox Van Buren. By Tyler's side are a bag of Mint drops, a reference to traditional, hard-money fiscal policies of the Democrats. Tyler laments, Thus do all our hopes end in Clay! Nothing left for me now but hoe-Cakes. His reference to Clay is a double entendre for Whig candidate Henry Clay; mention of Hoe-cakes may be an allusion to Tyler's Virginia origins. Tyler's poet son Robert rides on the back of the hearse, penning his 1842 epic Ahasuerus and musing, To be or not to by? is no longer the question. The cart is pulled by a scrawny nag with Andrew Jackson's head. Jackson says, I have done my best to bring Foxy here! I have nothing more to do but to see him decently interred. Behind the cart walks a devil, sobbing, Oh! heavy day! I am his only mourner. I am the only friend that will never leave him. Death itself shall not divide us! He is followed by a heavyset man in a wide-brimmed hat ringing a bell and crying Bring out your dead! Several dogs also pursue the hearse. In the background is Loco Foco Hall, a small cabin with bottles of spirits lining its window-shelves and flying an inverted American flag. A fox pelt is nailed to an outside wall, and an emaciated man stands in the doorway. The Loco Focos, or radical Democrats, were an important Van Buren constituency. Beyond, on the right, is a grave freshly dug by two blacks who stand nearby. One of the gravediggers says, H

Actually Ahasuerus Allusion Ambitions Appear Blacks Bottles Brimmed Bring Bringing Buren Cabbages Cakes Constituency Deposited Divide Done Drives Drops Emaciated Entendre Epic Erosion Fiscal Followed Foxy Freshly Gravediggers Heard Hearse Hopeful Hopes Incumbent Instrumental Interred Inverted Itself Laden Laments Loco Longer Mention Mint Mourner Musing Nailed Nearby Nominating Nothing Origins Pelt Penning Policies Polk Portrayed Pulled Pursue Question Radical Reference Ringing Rude Says Scrawny Shall Shelves Sobbing Spirits Thus Walks Whig Whom

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