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Why is the Republican party symbol an elephant and the Democratic symbol a donkey?

The Spectator

Why is the Republican party symbol an elephant and the Democratic symbol a donkey?

In the mid-20th century the Democratic party was officially using a rooster, while the Republicans used an eagle

Saturday, October 24, 2020

(Getty)

Political animals
Why is the Republican party symbol an elephant and the Democratic symbol a donkey? Both go back to political cartoons by Thomas Nast. In 1870 a drawing entitled ‘a live jackass kicking a dead lion’ symbolized the Democratic newspaper of the south as a donkey — while the dead lion referred to Edwin McMasters Stanton, Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state for war during the latter stages of the Civil War. Four years later Nast symbolized the Republican vote — as opposed to the party itself — as a berserk elephant in danger of falling…

Political animals

Why is the Republican party symbol an elephant and the Democratic symbol a donkey? Both go back to political cartoons by Thomas Nast. In 1870 a drawing entitled ‘a live jackass kicking a dead lion’ symbolized the Democratic newspaper of the south as a donkey — while the dead lion referred to Edwin McMasters Stanton, Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state for war during the latter stages of the Civil War. Four years later Nast symbolized the Republican vote — as opposed to the party itself — as a berserk elephant in danger of falling off a precipice into the ‘chaos’ below. The symbols took time to catch on, however. In the mid-20th century the Democratic party was officially using a rooster, while the Republicans used an eagle.