Thomas Nast played a crucial role in solidifying the association of these animals with the two major political parties. His cartoons were influential in the late 19th century, and the symbols he ...

as other cartoons in magazines like Puck, soon copied the political picture. The Democratic symbol, is traced to an 1837 caricature of President Andrew Jackson seated on a donkey titled ...

The donkey and elephant became political ... most famous cartoons by Nast was published in 1874 in Harper's Weekly, where he depicted a donkey in a lion's skin, scaring away other animals ...