"Curse the d--d congress committee and their guns!" (anti-Bank print, 1832)
A runaway phaeton marked 'Courier Enquirer', pulled by horses with collars labelled Biddle and Burrows, careers off a road; one of the three men standing by a signpost holds a placard 'The Veto' (LOC says the other two hold guns). In the distance a coach carrying Jackson and Van Buren travels smoothly toward the Capitol. Tell for name-calling: opponents are shown as named runaway horses and a spooked driver, with the horses' collar labels (Biddle, Burrows) and the driver's curse on the 'Congress Committee' doing the labelling.
- Date
- 1832
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Unattributed (anonymous lithograph; no publisher or artist named on the sheet)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Jackson Administration
- Leader
- Andrew Jackson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Event
- 1832 US Election
- Techniques
- Name-calling
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain: published in the U.S. in 1832; LOC rights information: "No known restrictions on publication."
Anonymous lithograph, 'Curse the d--d congress committee and their guns!', [1832]; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-65154
Text on the object
No fear of my horses stumbling. The people have removed all obstacles from this Road. [speech balloon, driver of the distant coach] Curse the D--d Congress Committee & their Guns ! their Report has frightened my Leader off the right track.-- God knows where he'll drag me with my $ 52,000!.. [speech balloon, driver of the phaeton] Good bye Col! Since you can't go the Right Road I'll quit the Concern. [speech balloon, standing man on the phaeton] Curse him, how hard he Draws on me! H'll surely break my Rein. [speech balloon, horse BIDDLE] Keep to the right Nic. or we'll Run down the Bank !! [speech balloon, horse BURROWS] BIDDLE [collar of the near horse] BURROWS [collar of the second horse] COURIER / ENQUIRER [panel on the phaeton] [illegible: label on the money bag; LOC's summary reads it as 52000, matching the driver's '$ 52,000' balloon] To Washington [signpost] To the Dismal Swamp [signpost] THE VETO [placard held by one of the three men; the lines of small print beneath are [illegible]]
Read from the 1024 px LOC JPEG with enlarged crops. The title's 'd--d' is printed in the balloon with a broken dash. The small print on the VETO placard is not legible. 'he'll' in the phaeton driver's balloon is the best reading of a blurred word. The figure on the money bag is not legible in the 1024 px scan and is not transcribed.
