Political Cartoons

A Political Cartoon is… an editorial using pictures rather than words to express the author’s opinions usually related to a current event or issue a way of expressing one’s feelings about politics or government policies using humor and art

Steps for interpreting a political cartoon: 1. Look for any symbols that hold a specific meaning or stand for something else (ex.: donkeys=democrats and elephants = republicans in the U.S.) 2. Try to figure out what current or historical issue the cartoon relates to based on the picture shown 3. Decide upon the author/artist’s intended meaning.

The first printed political cartoon Picture by Ben Franklin Snake is a symbol… Refers to the colonies needing to unite in order to be powerful

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