ATLANTA — It's election season once again, and you may ask, "Why is that elephant waving an American flag with its trunk?" or, "Why is that donkey dressed like Uncle Sam?" The donkey has long represented the Democratic Party, just as the elephant is known to represent Republicans. How exactly did this come to be?
It turns out these animals have been patriotic since the 19th century. The Democratic donkey's origin is linked to the 7th U.S. President Andrew Jackson. Before Jackson was elected as America's first Democratic president, his oh-so-creative critics called him a jackass, a colloquial term for a male donkey. Jackson chose to embrace the jab and went on to use it to his advantage, even including an image of a donkey on his campaign posters.
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Perpetuated by political cartoonist Thomas Nast, the donkey became a symbol for the Democratic Party. Soon, Nast invited elephants to the shindig with his illustration titled "Third Term Panic" in Harper's Weekly.
It was 1874, and then-Republican president Ulysses Grant was considering running for a third term (this was before the two-term limit was established). The cartoon depicted various animals representing different interest groups. Among them was a donkey dressed in lion's skin warning the other animals of the dangers of a Grant dictatorship. This donkey messenger was also shown to be scaring an elephant labeled "The Republican Vote."
Thomas Nast's illustrations continued as such until each animal became synonymous with its respective party as we know it now. Nast was also responsible for popularizing the ever-patriotic image of Uncle Sam and the modern depiction of Santa Claus, among other things.
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