Treeing Coons (pro-Polk cartoon), 1844
Cartoon in which Polk, in buckskin hunter's dress with a knife, holds Clay and Frelinghuysen (raccoon bodies, the Whig "coon" emblem) by the tail while Jackson chops their branch and dogs bark "Down with the Coons". Tells: "vermin" and "coons" as labels (name-calling); Polk staged as a frontier hunter (plain folks).
- Date
- 1844
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Drawn by H. Bucholzer; published by A. Purdy, New York
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Tyler Administration
- Leader
- John Tyler
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Event
- 1844 US Election
- Techniques
- Name-callingPlain folks
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain: published 1844, US; LOC rights note: "No known restrictions on publication."
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. (item 2008661421)
Text on the object
Get down from my tree, you vermin! Hickory. from this old man good Lord deliver us! I feel we are gone Coons ! This state of things is quite surprisin Such d_d bad luck my Frelinghuysen My struggles are of no avail For Polk has got me by the tail. You've got up the wrong tree this time! Down you must come. This works according to my wish — The Coons are treed at last. At them Bobby ! Catch them Johnny ! Dont let the other dogs get in before you I shall beat them yet. Down with the Coons. Down with the Coons. Down with the Coons. Repeal. Madisonian. Jackson. Calhoun. R.M.Johnson. Frelinghuysen. Clay. Polk John Jones Bob Tyler. Van Buren Tyler. Pub. by A. Purdy. TREEING COONS. Sold Wholesale & Retail at 98 Nassau St. N.Y. Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1844. by A. Purdy in the Clerks Office of the Dist. Court of the Southern Dist. of N.Y.
Punctuation of the small imprint is read at reduced confidence.
