The donkey and elephant became political symbols in the United States through a combination of political satire and popular culture, primarily driven by cartoonists in the 19th century.

The donkey and elephant became political symbols in the United States through a combination of historical events and the work of political cartoonists, particularly Thomas Nast. The Donkey as a ...

Political opponents had used a donkey as a way of insulting Democrats ... Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion” — that popularized the symbol. The cartoon depicts Democratic-leaning newspapers ...

(Incivility and name-calling in the political sphere are hardly modern innovations.) Jackson embraced the label, using it in his own campaign and proclaiming that the donkey was a symbol of ...

the elephant represents the Republican Party and the donkey the Democratic Party. What is less well known is how the animals came to adopted as symbols for the two biggest political forces in the US.

German-born political cartoonist Thomas Nast gave America some of its most enduring symbols: the Republican elephant, the Democratic donkey, and Uncle Sam. Publishing regularly in Harper's Weekly ...

Long before social media amplified the cult of personality, symbols like the donkey and the elephant began defining the identities of America’s major political parties. As campaigns evolved ...