"Putting a Head On" (Harper's Weekly, Sept. 3, 1876, by Thomas Nast).

https://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/nast_thomas_presidential_election_1876.htm

Nast Tilden Cartoon 1876 —”Putting A Head On” Cartoon by Thomas Nast, 1876 (Centennial year), Mocking Samuel J. Tilden’s Attempt At Democratic Reform.

(from Art of the Print)

Samuel Jones Tilden (1814-1886), ran a successful legal practice as a corporate lawyer in New York. Throughout his political career, he held many important positions that allowed him to fight corruption within the government. In 1872, Samuel Tilden took a leading part in the impeachment of corrupt judges working under the support of Tammany Hall. This victory and other attacks against dishonest politicians and corrupt government officials gained him a reputation as an honest reformer. In 1874, he was nominated by the Democratic Party as governor of New York and was elected as the 25th governor of that State. During his term as governor, Tilden was responsible for many reforms and improvements to the State, one major alteration was the demise of the 'Canal Ring', a group of fraudulent contractors who managed to fleece the City of New York for repairs and improvements to the State's canal system.

In 1876, The year Nast created the illustration for this original engraving, Samuel J. Tilden, backed by John Morrissey, was the unsuccessful nominee for the Democratic party in the scandalous 23rd American presidential election. After the election, in an attempt to implicate Tilden in sordid political affairs, he was accused of corruption and bribery. Although these accusations were disproved and cleared him of any wrongdoing before a Congressional subcommittee in New York City, the damage was done and his reputation and political career were left tainted. Thomas Nast showed little regard for Samuel Tilden even though he was one of the main persecutors who put William Magear Tweed (1823-1878), better known as 'Boss Tweed' and other members of the Tweed Ring in prison. Thomas Nast believed Samuel Tilden and his people were hypocritical for delaying the battle against Boss Tweed and the Ring.

William Tweed was one of the most notorious men in the city of New York and the ringleader of the ‘Tammany Ringdom’, which, through corruption and coercion, held the entire city of New York in its power. After his death, Samuel Jones Tilden left a trust fund to establish a free public library and in 1885 it was combined with the Astor and Lenox libraries to form the New York Public Library. The epitaph on his gravestone bear the words; "I Still Trust in The People".

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