Democratic Donkey (1875), Tammany Tiger (1869), GOP (1882)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

_http://www.barrypopik.com/article/910/democratic-donkey_
(http://www.barrypopik.com/article/910/democratic-donkey)
_http://www.barrypopik.com/article/911/tammany-tiger_
(http://www.barrypopik.com/article/911/tammany-tiger)
_http://www.barrypopik.com/article/908/gop_
(http://www.barrypopik.com/article/908/gop)
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I re-examined the Thomas Nast cartoons in Harper's Weekly, just as I  had
posted in the old ADS-L archives. While I would say Nast deserves  his fame, I
don't believe he coined as much as I he's given credit for. I'll  definitely
give him credit for the Republican elephant, but both the Tammany  Tiger and
Democratic Donkey are not really his creations.
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TAMMANY TIGER--The Newspaperarchive citation of 1869 in the NY Herald led  me
to the NY Evening Telegram, where there is a fine illustration of the Tammany
 Tiger. This is earlier than Nast's first Tammany tiger. If anyone can find
an  earlier Tammany "Big Six" Americus tiger, please post it. The tiger was
supposedly affixed to the Big Six fire engine in 1848. You can recheck HARPWEEK;
 I didn't use it because Nast's illustrations don't search well.
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DEMOCRATIC DONKEY--The Democratic donkey clearly comes from Shakespeare's A
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. In 1873, Nast used it for the Caesarism donkeys
(Grant's proposed third term). However, for the 1876 election, he  portrayed a
Democratic _tiger_. It was the New York Daily Graphic that came  up with the
"Democratic donkey" and used it about once a week.
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GOP--I haven't found an earlier cite yet. The long explanation that it  comes
from a contraction in the Cincinnati Gazette for a James G. Blaine  speech on
the "Achievements of the Grand Old Party" is interesting. However, I  think
he really did give the speech in 1884, which is too late.
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I'd really welcome any antedatings or corrections or even later  explanations
found on these American political terms.
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