Elephants and Donkeys?

Question

Why are elephants and donkeys ended up as political-party symbols?

Answer 1

How did the animal icons of the Republicans and Democrats originate?
Tony
Auburn, Indiana

Dear Tony:
We've always thought it a little strange that our nation's most prominent political parties are represented by two less-than-majestic animals. There must be a good reason why the Republicans use a pachyderm and the Democrats use an *** so we set out to find it.
We started our search by typing "republican elephant" into the search field. Although we didn't receive any Yahoo! category matches, we did receive 4,710 relevant web pages.

The first search result took us to "Origin Of The Republican Elephant," a web page on the Republican National Committee web site.

According to the site, the symbol of the party was born in the imagination of cartoonist Thomas Nast and first appeared in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874. The entire explanation is rather convoluted, but the whole story is outlined in the article.

Interestingly, Nast is also the person credited with gaining wide-spread acceptance of the donkey as a symbol for the Democratic party, although he was not the first to use the symbol.

The Republican National Committee web site provided a stellar answer, so we decided to use its counterpart, The Democratic National Committee web site to find the origin of the donkey. When we arrived at the site, we immediately searched for "donkey" and were presented with a number of pages. We clicked on the first document listed, "The Democratic Donkey," and found some interesting history behind its use.

When Andrew Jackson ran for president in 1828, his opponents tried to label him a "jackass" for his populist views and his slogan, "Let the people rule." Jackson turned it to his advantage by using the donkey on his campaign posters.

In 1837, the donkey was used in a political cartoon for the first time to represent the Democratic party, again in conjunction with Jackson. Jackson was retired, but still considered himself the party's leader. The cartoon, titled "A Modern Baalim and his ***," showed Jackson trying to get the donkey to go where he wanted it to go.

Twice in the early 1870s, Thomas Nast used the donkey to represent the Democrats. He first used the animal in an 1870 Harper's Weekly cartoon to represent the "Copperhead Press" kicking a dead lion. He later used the donkey to portray what he called "Caesarism" showing the alleged Democratic uneasiness over a possible third term for Ulysses S. Grant. This later cartoon also marked the first use of the Republican elephant.
The donkey and the elephant have become the accepted symbols of the Democratic and Republican parties, even though the Democrats have never officially adopted the donkey as a party symbol. The Republicans, however, have actually adopted the elephant as their official symbol.
God bless America.

Answer 2

I've only paid attention to one billboard. Primarily because the person has been in office for several years and would like me to vote for her and I have absolutely no idea who she is or what she has done. Her billboard doesn't indicate her party affiliation and I assumed it was because everybody already knows her (except me). I won't be the first time that I have not noticed things. I just recently realized that a nearby store has been closed only to find out that it has been closed for over a year! I never noticed. :-( I have notice an increasing disenchantment from a lot of people where I live with the more and more standard, "polarizing" party politics and I get very frustrated with the way both side uses lables to discount efforts at genuine communication. Once labeled a "liberal" or "right-winger", Republican, Democrat, or whatever, it seems we loose all need to find some common ground. It is way too petty, childish and adversarial to be helpful, particularly when at this critical time we need to come together. If people are afraid to declare their allegiance because it is so affectively charged then maybe will begin to realize how detrimental this whole perspectiove has become. Perhaps we will begin to understand that our only hope lies in our ability to work together. Just a digression- I have had this fantasy that some day our daily news reports would carry some information letting us know who voted for what and why; perhaps an update on our local short term goals, if and how we are making progress, and who gets what money. I know it sounds silly but I would like to hear an update from time to time about our dams- perhaps just a quick note on water quality and water levels (especially if they are good). It would give me something to feel good about. If the outbreak of Lyme disease goes down this year compared to last year, I would like to know who is responsible and give him a little praise for a job well done. I think there is something more to life than just the perspective of fearfully reacting from one crisis to another. If they can improve my community, they can keep there party affliation a secret.

Answer 3

Andrew Jackson was called a jackass; that was the start of the donkey....not sure of the elephant.

Answer 4

Thomas Nast first came up with those symbols for the parties in the 1800's I believe.

Answer 5

Elephants, I don't know but Donkeys are awesome.

Answer 6

Some dem said he was stobborn as donkey some repubs said that elephat symbols strength and courage

Answer 7

They were in a political cartoon by Thomas Nast back in the 1800's. It caught on. (like red and blue states)

Answer 8

some cartoonist was making fun as an elephant and a lion or something like that .. and it eventually was adopted as the elephant and ***.

Answer 9

I do know that President Andrew Jackson was called a jackass. and he was like, "Huh I don't care! Let us use it then!"

Read:

http://ask.yahoo.com/20000810.html

Answer 10

there's an article about that on yahoo's front page check it out!!