Why is the Elephant a Symbol of the Republican Party?
Many attribute the first use of the elephant as a symbol of the Republican Party in the US, to the political cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902). He can certainly be credited with giving both the Democratic and Republican parties their mascots, and assigned the donkey to the Democratic Party. Nast’s depiction of the unofficial mascot of the Democratic Party was never meant to be flattering, but nevertheless, the Democrats took on what was initially an insult and made it their own.
Many attribute the first use of the elephant as a symbol of the Republican Party in the US, to the political cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902). He can certainly be credited with giving both the Democratic and Republican parties their mascots, and assigned the donkey to the Democratic Party. Nast’s depiction of the unofficial mascot of the Democratic Party was never meant to be flattering, but nevertheless, the Democrats took on what was initially an insult and made it their own. As symbol of the Republican party, the elephant represented Nast’s political sentiments toward his own party, and also some of his despair that some of the qualities associated with that party seemed to be waning. Nast also wasn’t the first to use this symbol of the Republican Party. His first drawing of the elephant symbol occurred in 1874, but some of Lincoln’s campaign materials had a picture of an elephant too, and another cartoon depicting the party as an elephant was popularly viewed in 1872.
