"The Temptation of Saint Samuel" (Puck, 1913)
Uncle Sam kneels before a copy of the Constitution, hemmed in by women carrying purses marked 'votes for women', in the pose of a saint tempted in the desert. The tell: religious iconography lends the scene the weight of a moral trial.
Published in the magazine Puck on 2 April 1913, this lithograph from the woman suffrage campaign shows Uncle Sam kneeling before a copy of the Constitution while women carrying purses marked 'votes for women' crowd around him. The composition copies the pose of a saint tempted in the desert. That is transfer: the weight of religious iconography is lent to a political scene. The cartoon's own stance is not stated, and the temptation frame can be read as mocking either Uncle Sam's resistance or the women's pressure.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- April 2, 1913
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Puck (Keppler & Schwarzmann, New York); lithograph signed 'Ehrhart'
Full record
Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Gender and suffrage, Elections and party politics
- Event
- US Woman Suffrage Campaign
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, retrieved October 10, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (published 1913, before 1931); LoC: no known restrictions on publication
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LCCN 2002720356. "The Temptation of Saint Samuel" (Puck, 1913)
