Political Cartoons in Utah
History and Current Events
The Utah War

This is still a no gum class. Please dispose of it properly!
Bell Activity
 Your word is “civilian”
 Find the word on your grey study guide and complete the following information for the word.
 Find the definition using a glossary.
 Use your own knowledge and experience to complete the rest of the definition.
 Where should your backpack be?

Does your work look something like this?
Word : civilian
Definition :
My Understanding: 4 3 2 1
Draw a picture of it:
Sentence :
Synonym/
Example :
Antonym/Non-
Example:

Does your work look something like this?
Word : civilian My Understanding: 4 3 2 1
Definition : a person who is not part of Draw a picture of it: the military
Sentence : Civilians are often casualties of war.
Synonym/
Example : noncombatant
Antonym/Non-
Example: soldier

Today we will learn about
Political/Editorial Cartoons
• History Objective –
We will interpret current and historic political cartoons to learn about the temperament of the period in question.
• Language Objective –
We will analyze a cartoon with our groups and write our own summary and response to a political cartoon.
• Behavior Objective – We will collaborate with our groups to understand our cartoon.

The Importance of Political
Cartoons to History
• Political Cartoons play an important part in telling the history of a given period of time.
• They help us understand the events, people, prejudices, attitudes, culture, concerns, fears, and so on of a particular time period.

A Brief History of Political
Cartoons
• People have been expressing opinions with pictures for a long time.
• This ancient
Egyptian picture shows a noble as a mouse and her servants/advisors as cats.

Political Cartoons in
America
• This picture was created by
Benjamin Franklin when the British and the French were preparing for the
French & Indian
War.
• It later became a popular symbol for the American Revolution.

The Influence of Political
Cartoonists
• Some of the artists who have created cartoons in the past still influence the present.
• Thomas Nast popularized the use of the elephant and donkey for the
Republican and
Democratic Parties.
• Even our modern image of Santa Claus was influenced by Thomas
Nast.

How Do Political Cartoons
Work?
• Political cartoons try to communicate powerful ideas.
• They often use humor to make a point.
• They incorporate events of the period in an easy to understand format that most people can relate to even if they don’t read well.

How do Political Cartoons convey information?
• Symbols, caricature, drawings and exaggerations used by the cartoonist point out themes and problems of any given time period.

Let’s try to analyze the meaning of a current political cartoon.

Historic Political Cartoons
• Understanding historic political cartoons is more difficult, but provide insights into the temperament of the time.
• If you don’t get the symbols that are being used, a little research will help.

Steps to analyzing a political cartoon, past or present.
• Identify the characters, symbols and objects in the cartoon.
• Look for clues, cues, and details that will give further meaning.
• Identify the main idea of the cartoon by reading the captions and putting the message into your own words.
• Identify any bias the cartoonist might have.

Terms to Know
• Symbolism - an object used for or representing something else
• Caricature - a picture ludicrously exaggerating the features of persons or things
• Captioning and labels - a title or explanation for a picture or illustration, especially in a magazine
• Analogy - a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based
• Irony - the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning
• Juxtaposition - an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast
• Exaggeration - the act of exaggerating or overstating

Let’s look at some cartoons from Utah history.
• Open your books to page 151 and look at the cartoon on the page.
• Let’s go though the steps to analyze this cartoon.

Utah: The Struggle for Statehood
Reformation
What did Brigham Young call for the Mormons to do?
To War
Why did Pres. Buchanan send troops to Utah?
How did this look to outsiders?
In the Meadows
Describe the Mountain
Meadows Massacre, and what happened after it.
Cold War & Peace
How did the attitude of the soldiers change about the Utah
War, and how did the Utah
Militia harass them?

Current Events
• On the test, you will analyze a political cartoon from the era of the Utah War.
• We are also going to do a current event assignment in which you will choose a modern political cartoon.
• First summarize what the cartoon depicts, explaining the people, symbols, and so on.
• Then respond and give your opinion of the cartoon, its message, the bias of the author, and so on.