A political cartoonist’s scrawl in the State of Oregon Law Library's (SOLL) copy of the Trial of Thomas O. Selfridge teaches this important lesson: never argue or throw a skillet at someone who buys ink by the barrel.
Annotation (mostly likely by James Akin): “James Akin bot this book at Newbury port 1806 price One Dollar”
Born in South Carolina, James Akin (c.1773-1846) worked as an engraver in Philadelphia. Most famously, he drew political cartoons. For example, he mocked the press for their treatment of Andrew Jackson during the Election of 1824 (Jackson lost), and he mocked Andrew Jackson when Jackson won in 1828. But his first political cartoons – along with a caricature of his employer holding a skillet – appeared around the time he bought the Trial of Thomas O. Selfridge in Newburyport, MA.
In 1804, Akin moved to Newburyport to work for Edmund M. Blunt. The two argued over Akin’s employment bond, and Akin sued Blunt. The situation escalated in October when they met in a hardware store:
Blunt: “THIEF!”
Akin(aggrieved at the attack on his honor): “Duel me!”
Blunt (chucks a skillet at Akin): “Nah.”
Akin’s dueling challenge landed him in jail, but he destroyed Blunt with a caricature titled Infuriated despondency! Akin even wrote a song to go along with the caricature: "Chorus / And peoples will remember long / The story, to a tittle, / That gave rise to my Muse’s Song, / About an iron kettle / You’ve heard, no doubt, a prattling clown, / An ugly, sland’rous fellow, / Revile at folks thro’ all the town, / With one eternal bellow.”
Infuriated despondency! (1805)
The caricature did well. The design even made it to England, where it decorated chamber pots.
During his time in Newburyport, Akin also turned his acidic commentary on President Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans. Akin’s first political cartoon, A Philosophic Cock (1804), portrays Jefferson and Sally Hemings, his slave who bore him six children. Akin illustrates Jefferson as a proud rooster, while Sally Hemings crouches as a subservient hen. The caption underscores the racist tone, suggesting Jefferson having sex with an African American slave was worse because her race made her unattractive: “Tis not a set of features or complexion or tincture of a skin that I admire." (For more information on Sally Hemings, please see Monticello's discussion). Aside from the cruder suggestion, depicting Jefferson as a cock – cocks often represented revolutionary France – highlighted the Democratic-Republicans' ties to France and the French Revolution, something the opposing Federalist Party despised.
A Philosophic Cock (1804)
Another of Akin’s cartoons from Newburyport illustrates Jefferson’s failed attempt to buy West Florida from Spain. In The prairie dog sickened at the sting of the hornet or a diplomatic puppet exhibiting his deceptions, Napoleon stings Jefferson, who vomits up the money needed to pay for West Florida. Meanwhile, a man bounces from foot to foot, holding maps of Florida in front of Jefferson. The dog follows the hornet’s lead, suggesting that Jefferson follows Napoleon, rather than his own country – a common federalist spin on the incident.
The prairie dog sickened at the sting of the hornet or a diplomatic puppet exhibiting his deceptions (1804)
Akin’s dislike for Democratic-Republicans, likely explains why he bought the Trial of Thomas O. Selfridge despite its expense (one dollar represented a day’s wages for a laborer in 1806 Massachusetts). The book describes the trial of a Federalist (Thomas O. Selfridge) who killed the son of the chairman of the Democratic-Republican Party (Benjamin Austin) in self-defense. The killing and trial further divided the parties, making it interesting to a political cartoonist like Akin. More personally, the trials discussed whether one could kill in self-defense for honor, a relevant question for Akin – someone who went to jail for dueling propositions.
Akin left Newburyport in 1807, after posting a snarky farewell in the newspaper. For us, he left a reminder that throwing skillets can put you on a chamber pot.
James Akin wasn't the only person scrawling on SOLL's collection. Keep your eyes open for more posts discussing marginalia and manuscripts at SOLL! For a more immediate history fix, read about SOLL's connection to a constitutional signer.
Akin, James. A philosophic cock. Aquatint print, 1804. American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA. https://www.americanantiquarian.org/
Akin, James. The prairie dog sickened at the sting of the hornet or a diplomatic puppet exhibiting his deceptions. Etching, 1804. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. https://www.loc.gov/
Sources:
Dzurec, David. “Of Salt Mountains, Prairie Dogs, and Horned Frogs.” Journal of the Early Republic 35, no. 1 (Spring 2015): 79–108. doi:10.1353/jer.2015.0012.
Kelly, James C., and B. S. Lovell. "Thomas Jefferson: His Friends and Foes." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 101, no. 1 (1993): 133-57. Accessed January 14, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/4249333.
Maureen O'Brien Quimby. "The Political Art of James Akin." Winterthur Portfolio 7 (1972): 59-112. Accessed January 14, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/1180534
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