Q 01/05

Benjamin Franklin's 1754 cartoon 'Join, or Die' urged the colonies to unite by showing which animal cut into pieces?

A) Eagle

B) Snake

C) Turkey

D) Lobster

Answer · why

B) Snake

A snake in eight segments stood for the divided colonies. A superstition of the day held that a severed snake would come back to life if its pieces we...

Q 02/05

Which animal is Thomas Nast credited with first using for the Republican Party, in a cartoon about President Grant?

A) Elephant

B) Rhinoceros

C) Donkey

D) Eagle

Answer · why

A) Elephant

The elephant made its debut in Nast's 'Third Term Panic', where a donkey in a lion's skin scares the other animals amid rumours that Grant wanted a th...

Q 03/05

A 1902 Washington Post cartoon of which president refusing to shoot a captive bear inspired a famous stuffed toy?

A) William McKinley

B) Grover Cleveland

C) Theodore Roosevelt

D) William Howard Taft

Answer · why

C) Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt thought shooting a tied-up bear unsporting, and Clifford Berryman's cartoon of the moment inspired toymaker Morris Michtom to creat...

Q 04/05

Which children's author drew more than 400 political cartoons for the New York newspaper PM in the early 1940s?

A) Maurice Sendak

B) Dr. Seuss

C) Roald Dahl

D) Shel Silverstein

Answer · why

B) Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss served as PM's chief editorial cartoonist from 1941 to 1943, years before The Cat in the Hat made him a household name.

Q 05/05

An 1812 Boston Gazette cartoon of a monster-shaped Massachusetts voting district gave English which political word?

A) Filibuster

B) Pork barrel

C) Lame duck

D) Gerrymander

Answer · why

D) Gerrymander

Gerrymander blends the name of Governor Elbridge Gerry with salamander, the animal his party's contorted new district was said to resemble.