| Summary: | This dissertation is the first comprehensive study to analyze and interpret American political caricatures published in New York, Philadelphia, and Newburyport, Massachusetts between 1780 and 1830. Caricatures published during the early Republic relied heavily on the format and design of graphic satires published in London; however, its subject matter represents events and personages that reflect an early nationalistic American society. This study concentrates on the exchange of satirical print cultures between the United States and England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Central to this is the thorough examination of the early training and satirical prints published by two most prolific caricaturists of the period, the American-born James Akin (1773-1846) and the Scottish-born William Charles (1776-1820). Despite the abundance of recent scholarship focused on caricatures published in London between 1780 and 1830, art historians have largely ignored the wealth of contemporary satirical images that were published in the United States. This study will address that oversight by examining the engagement between political caricatures from this time period within a broader social and historical context. This research will develop and expand on evidence that supports the influence on satirical prints from other mediums of artwork within this period. Through critical analysis of these images and contemporary descriptions found in personal papers, letters, and newspaper advertisements this dissertation will establish a broader context in which to view and understand these politically charged images. Furthermore, this project will establish an art-historical context in which to place these American satirical images, a topic that has previously been neglected by the history of art discipline. 0 3
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