Several political cartoons were included in the James Buchanan collection. A cartoon that interested me, depicted two eagles, one proud and strong, while the other was decrepit and stood upon legs of “Anarchy” and “Secession”. Under the strong eagle read, “Our national bird as it appeared when handed to James Buchanan March 4, 1857,” while the decrepit eagle read, “The identical bird as it appeared A.D. 1861.” The critical nature of the cartoon reflects upon how cartoonists and writers of the time expressed frustration and disdain for certain political figures or policies.
History@Dickinson
The History Department at Dickinson College provides courses in all areas of world history and with historians who employ a wide array of interdisciplinary and multi-media approaches. All History majors at Dickinson experience a core sequence of methods classes, beginning with the Introduction to Historical Methodology in History 204, continuing to Historiography and Advanced Historical Methods (History 304) and culminating with History 404, a capstone senior seminar.Blogroll
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Obviously there is a lot one could research related to James Buchanan and his era. Your challenge will be narrowing down your topic. If political cartoons interest you, you could think about trying to find more cartoons from this era and his presidency, and developing a topic out of this material.