In the same 1874 cartoon mentioned above, Nast depicted an elephant labeled "The Republican Vote" being frightened by the donkey in the lion's skin. The elephant symbolized the Republican vote ...

Around the same time, cartoonist Thomas Nast started drawing a stumbling elephant to represent the Republican Party, once united by its abolitionist goal but struggling in the postwar years.

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 ...