The Republican elephant (“the sluggish animal”) is lying on and blocking the road to an election victory. By 1880, other cartoonists had picked up the symbols and spread them across the country.

By the end of the 19th century both the Republican elephant and the Democrat donkey were firmly associated with the parties thanks to their use in cartoons in large circulation newspapers.

On Nov. 7, 1874, the first cartoon depicting the elephant as the symbol of the Republican Party was printed in Harper's Weekly. On Nov. 7, 1874, ...

In 1874, Nast used the elephant in Harper's Weekly magazine, and that is when the elephant started to take hold as the Republican party's symbol and is now synonymous with the party. Two different ...

In 1874, the New York Herald loudly opposed the possibility of Ulysses S. Grant running for a third presidential term and cried Caesarism.Nast, a life-long Republican who’d become frustrated ...