Editing Thomas Nast (section)

==Career==
[[File:Thomas Nast self-portrait cph.3a00742.jpg|thumb|Thomas Nast self-caricature]]
[[File:thomasnastselfportrait.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Self-caricature of Thomas Nast]]

In February 1860, he went to England for the ''[[New York Illustrated News]]'' to depict one of the major sporting events of the era, the [[Boxing|prize fight]] between the American [[John C. Heenan]] and the English [[Thomas Sayers]]<ref>Paine 1974, p. 36.</ref> sponsored by [[George Wilkes]], publisher of  ''Wilkes' [[Spirit of the Times]]''. A few months later, as artist for ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', he joined [[Giuseppe Garibaldi|Garibaldi]] in Italy. Nast's cartoons and articles about the Garibaldi [[Expedition of the Thousand|military campaign]]  to [[Italian unification|unify Italy]] captured the popular imagination in the U.S. In February 1861, he arrived back in New York. In September of that year, he married Sarah Edwards, whom he had met two years earlier.

He left the ''New York Illustrated News'' to work again, briefly, for ''Frank Leslie's Illustrated News''.<ref>Halloran 2012, pp. 62–63.</ref> In 1862, he became a staff illustrator for ''Harper's Weekly''. In his first years with ''Harper's'', Nast became known especially for compositions that appealed to the sentiment of the viewer. An example is "Christmas Eve" (1862), in which a wreath frames a scene of a soldier's praying wife and sleeping children at home; a second wreath frames the soldier seated by a campfire, gazing longingly at small pictures of his loved ones.<ref>Paine 1974, p. 84.</ref> One of his most celebrated cartoons was ''Compromise with the South'' (1864), directed against those in the North who opposed the prosecution of the [[American Civil War]].<ref>Paine 1974, p. 98.</ref> He was known for drawing battlefields in [[Border states (Civil War)|border]] and [[Confederate States of America|southern states]]. These attracted great attention, and Nast was referred to by President [[Abraham Lincoln]] as "our best recruiting sergeant".<ref>Paine 1974, p. 69.</ref>

After the war, Nast strongly opposed the anti-[[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]] policy of President [[Andrew Johnson]], whom he depicted in a series of trenchant cartoons that marked  "Nast's great beginning in the field of caricature".<ref>Paine 1974, p. 112.</ref>

===Style and themes===
[[File:Schurz Defeat of Liberal Republicans.jpg|thumb|[[Carl Schurz|Schurz]], Belmont, [[Reuben Fenton|Fenton]], [[Lyman Trumbull|Trumbull]], [[Thomas W. Tipton|Tipton]], and others lie before a vengeful Columbia (representing the U.S.) while Uncle Sam (also representing the U.S.) waves his hat beside the victorious [[Ulysses S. Grant]], 1872.]]

Nast's cartoons frequently had numerous sidebars and panels with intricate subplots to the main cartoon. A Sunday feature could provide hours of entertainment and highlight social causes. After 1870, Nast favored simpler compositions featuring a strong central image.<ref name="Oxford"/> He based his likenesses on photographs.<ref name="Oxford"/>

In the early part of his career, Nast used a brush and [[ink wash]] technique to draw tonal renderings onto the wood blocks that would be carved into printing blocks by staff engravers.<ref>Halloran 2012, p. 102; Paine 1974, p. 135.</ref> The bold [[cross-hatching]] that characterized Nast's mature style resulted from a change in his method that began with a cartoon of June 26, 1869, which Nast drew onto the wood block using a pencil, so that the engraver was guided by Nast's linework. This change of style was influenced by the work of the English illustrator [[John Tenniel]].<ref>Paine 1974, pp. 135–136.</ref> A recurring theme in Nast's cartoons is anti-Catholicism.<ref>Worth, Richard (1998). ''Thomas Nast: Honesty in the Pursuit of Corruption''. Las Cruces, NM: Sofwest Press. p. 40.</ref><ref>Halloran 2012, p. 197.</ref> Nast was baptized a Catholic at the Saint Maria Catholic Church in Landau,<ref>"Family Search.org" [https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NRMT-5BP Link text]</ref> and for a time received Catholic education in New York City.<ref>Paine 1974, p. 14.</ref> 

When Nast converted to Protestantism remains unclear, but his conversion was likely formalized upon his marriage in 1861. (The family were practicing Episcopalians at St. Peter's in Morristown.) Nast considered the Catholic Church to be a threat to American [[Republicanism in the United States|values]]. According to his biographer, Fiona Deans Halloran, Nast was "intensely opposed to the encroachment of Catholic ideas into public education".<ref>Halloran 2012, p. 33.</ref> When Tammany Hall proposed a new tax to support parochial Catholic schools, he was outraged. 

[[File:The American River Ganges (Thomas Nast cartoon).jpg|thumb|right|''The American River Ganges'', a cartoon by Thomas Nast showing bishops attacking public schools, with connivance of [[William M. Tweed|"Boss" Tweed]]. ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'', September 30, 1871]]
His 1871 cartoon ''The American River Ganges'', depicts Catholic bishops, guided by Rome, as crocodiles moving in to attack American school children as Irish politicians prevent their escape. He portrayed public support for religious education as a threat to democratic government. The authoritarian papacy in Rome, ignorant Irish Americans, and corrupt politicians at Tammany Hall figured prominently in his work. Nast favored nonsectarian public education that mitigated differences of religion and ethnicity. However, in 1871 Nast and ''Harper's Weekly'' supported the Republican-dominated board of education in Long Island in requiring students to hear passages from the [[King James Bible]], and his educational cartoons sought to raise anti-Catholic and anti-Irish fervor among Republicans and independents.<ref>Benjamin Justice, "Thomas Nast and the Public School of the 1870s". ''History of Education Quarterly''  45#2 (2005): 171–206 [www.jstor.org/stable/20461949 in JSTOR].</ref>

Nast expressed [[anti-Irish sentiment]] by depicting them as violent drunks. He used Irish people as a symbol of mob violence, machine politics, and the exploitation of immigrants by political bosses.<ref>Halloran 2012, pp. 32–35.</ref> Nast's emphasis on Irish violence may have originated in scenes he witnessed in his youth. Nast was physically small and had experienced bullying as a child.<ref name="Halloran_35">Halloran 2012, p. 35.</ref> In the neighborhood in which he grew up, acts of violence by the Irish against black Americans were commonplace.<ref>Halloran 2012, p. 34.</ref>

In 1863, he witnessed the [[New York City draft riots]] in which a mob composed mainly of Irish immigrants burned the [[Colored Orphan Asylum]] to the ground. His experiences may explain his sympathy for black Americans and his "antipathy to what he perceived as the brutish, uncontrollable Irish thug".<ref name="Halloran_35" /> An 1876 Nast cartoon combined a caricature of [[Charles Francis Adams Sr]] with anti-Irish sentiment and anti-[[Fenian]]ship.<ref>''American Heritage'' August 1958 Volume IX Number 5 p. 90. The Nast cartoon of Charles Adams' 1876 campaign for governor is seen [https://www.masshist.org/database/5892 here].</ref>

In general, his political cartoons supported [[American Indians in the United States|American Indians]] and [[Chinese American]]s.<ref>Paine 1974, pp. 148, 412.</ref> He advocated the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition of slavery]], opposed [[racial segregation]], and deplored the violence of the [[Ku Klux Klan]]. In one of his more famous cartoons, the phrase "Worse than Slavery" is printed on a [[coat of arms]] depicting a despondent black family holding their dead child; in the background is a [[lynching]] and a schoolhouse destroyed by arson. Two members of the Ku Klux Klan and [[White League]], [[paramilitary]] insurgent groups in the [[Reconstruction era (United States)|Reconstruction-era]] South, shake hands in their mutually destructive work against black Americans.<ref>{{cite news |last=Nast |first=Thomas |date=September 24, 1874 |title=Worse Than Slavery |volume=18 |page=878 |work=Harper's Weekly |issue=930 |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3c28619/ |access-date=June 26, 2022}}</ref>

<gallery widths="184" heights="160">
File:"This is a White Man's Government!" (September 1868), by Thomas Nast.jpg|September 1868 Nast cartoon "This is a White Man's Government!"{{Efn|''Depicted left to right'': a stereotyped Irishman (representing a Northern Democratic party member), an ex-[[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] soldier ([[Nathan B. Forrest]], representing a Southern Democratic party member), and Democratic party chairman [[August Belmont]] "triumphing" over a prostrate [[United States Colored Troops|USCT]] soldier}}
File:TheUsualIrishWayofDoingThings.jpg|''The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things'', a Nast cartoon depicting a drunken Irishman lighting a powder keg. Published in ''Harper's Weekly'', September 2, 1871
File:"Move on!" Has the Native American no rights that the naturalized American is bound to respect? - - Th. Nast. LCCN2001696066.tif|1871 Nast cartoon: "Move on! Has the Native American no rights that the naturalized American is bound to respect?"{{Efn|While naturalized foreigners had the vote, [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] had no vote, as they were not considered United States citizens, which was not remedied until 1924.}}
File:"Every Dog" (No Distinction of Color) "Has His Day", by Thomas Nast.jpg|alt=Political cartoon by Thomas Nast depicting a Chinese immigrant, American Indian, and African American, published in the periodical Harper's Weekly on February 8, 1879. The Chinese man and American Indian man stand together looking at a wall plastered with xenophobic headlines. To the left, an African American reclines in the background. The image is captioned as follows: "EVERY DOG" (NO DISTINCTION OF COLOR) "HAS HIS DAY" [line break] Red Gentleman to Yellow Gentleman. "Pale face 'fraid you crowd him out, as he did me."|1879 Nast cartoon: "&nbsp;'Every dog' (no distinction of color) 'has his day'&nbsp;"{{Efn|Shows an American Indian and a Chinese immigrant looking at a wall plastered with xenophobic headlines, the former saying to the latter, "Pale face 'fraid you crowd him out, as he did me." In the left background an African American remarks, "My day is coming".}}
File:NastRepublicanElephant.jpg|Nast's cartoon "Third Term Panic".{{Efn|Inspired by the tale of [[The Ass in the Lion's Skin]] and a rumor of President Grant seeking a third term, the Democratic donkey (labeled "Caesarism") panics the other political animals, including a Republican Party elephant.}}
File:Colored rule.jpg|"Colored Rule in a Reconstructed(?) State (The members call each other thieves, liars, rascals, and cowards)", ''Harper's Weekly'', March 14, 1874.{{Efn|Cartoon showing members of the South Carolina Legislature in argument in the House, with [[Columbia (personification)|Columbia]] rebuking them, saying "You are aping the lowest whites. If you disgrace your race in this way you had better take back seats."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3c02256/|title=Colored rule in a reconstructed(?) state (The members call each other thieves, liars, rascals, and cowards) / Th. Nast.|website=[[Library of Congress]] |date=January 1874 }}</ref> By this point, it is estimated that Nast had given up on idealism on racial issues, and perceived black legislators as incompetent buffoons.}}
</gallery>

Despite Nast's championing of minorities, Morton Keller writes that later in his career "racist stereotypy of blacks began to appear: comparable to those of the Irish—though in contrast with the presumably more highly civilized Chinese."<ref name="Keller">Keller, Morton, [https://cartoons.osu.edu/digital_albums/thomasnast/keller.pdf "The World of Thomas Nast"]. Retrieved February 24, 2018.</ref>

During Nast's era, [[William Shakespeare]]'s plays were an inherent part of the school curriculum. He introduced into American cartoons the practice of modernizing scenes from Shakespeare for a political purpose, referencing 23 of his 37 plays in more than 100 cartoons—sometimes with just a recognizable line or two, but generally with pictorial content.<ref name="nast">{{Cite web |last=Adler |first=John |title=Cartoons {{!}} Shakespeare {{!}} Political Cartoonist {{!}} Thomas Nast |url=https://thomasnast.com/cartoon-categories/shakespeare/}}</ref>

<gallery widths="184" heights="160">
File:Shakespeare's Voyage of Life.jpg|Nast referenced 23 of Shakespeare's 37 plays in more than 100 cartoons—sometimes with just a recognizable line or two, but generally with pictorial content.{{Efn|This quarter page illustration was published in Harper's Weekly, October 7, 1871 (Pg 948)<ref name="nast" />}}
File:The “Liberal” Conspirators (Who, You All Know, Are Honorable Men).jpg|Nast quoted from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, comparing Ulysses S. Grant to Caesar.{{Efn|[[Horace Greeley]], clad in a toga, was cast as Cicero, the Roman senator and enemy of Caesar, whom the other conspirators left out of the plot in Shakespeare's play. Ringleader [[Carl Schurz]], playing Brutus, disdained Greeley's potential candidacy. Published in Harper's Weekly, March 16, 1872 (Pg 208)<ref name="nast" />}}
File:A Few Washington Sketches — In the Senate.jpg|Nast ridiculed Senator [[Lyman Trumbull]] (IL), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, via Shakespeare's ''Macbeth''. Published in Harper's Weekly, March 23, 1872 (p. 232)<ref name="nast" />
File:United States Senate Theatre.jpg|Nast detested Carl Schurz and attacked him about 60 times during Ulysses S. Grant's presidency.{{Efn|Here he cast Schurz as Iago, the evil villain from Shakespeare's ''Othello''. Published on the cover of Harper's Weekly, March 30, 1872 (Pg 241)<ref name="nast" />}}
File:Not So Easily Played Upon.jpg|Carl Schurz's long legs were his primary exaggerated feature for the caricaturist, Nast.{{Efn|Another attribute that Nast frequently "played to" was his musical talent, usually on the piano. Both used here, via Shakespeare's ''Hamlet''. Published on the cover of Harper's Weekly, April 27, 1872 (Pg 321)<ref name="nast" />}}
File:A Step in the Right Direction.jpg|Nast dramatized Ulysses S. Grant as a victorious knight stamping out corruption and fraud.{{Efn|Nast used a quotation from the opening scene of ''Romeo and Juliet'' to praise him, substituting "President" for "Prince" at the end. Published in Harper's Weekly, June 6, 1874 (Pg 473)<ref name="nast" />}}
File:“Where There Is an Evil” (Caesarism Scare) “There Is a Remedy” — (Ridicule).jpg|Nast's target in this cartoon was [[James Gordon Bennett, Jr.]], the wealthy, conceited, autocratic editor of the Herald.{{Efn|Nast went after Bennett with a vengeance, using Shakespeare to fight Shakespeare, portraying him 30 times before the end of Ulysses S. Grant's presidency, usually as an ass (Bottom, the weaver) from ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. Here, Nast tormented Bennett with his own "Sweet Music" played on a harp (Harper's Weekly), with his sheet music containing an ass-headed Caesarism scarecrow. Published in Harper's Weekly, November 8, 1873 (Pg 992)<ref name="nast" />}}
</gallery>

Nast also brought his approach to bear on the usually prosaic almanac business, publishing an annual ''Nast's Illustrated Almanac'' from 1871 to 1875. <ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Davies | first1 = Ross E. | title = Thomas Nast's Illustrated Almanacs, 1871-1875 | journal = Greenbag Almanac Reader| volume = 11 | issue = 4 | pages = 212–220 | publisher = Antonin Scalia Law School, Law & Economics Research Paper Series | location = Arlington | date = January 10, 2011 | url = https://ssrn.com/abstract=1744130}}</ref> ''[[The Green Bag (1997)|The Green Bag]]'' republished all five of Nast's almanacs in the 2011 edition of its ''Almanac & Reader''.<ref>Nast's Illustrated Almanac (1871–1875) (reprinted in the 2011 Green Bag Almanac & Reader, pages 106-746).</ref>

===Campaign against the Tweed Ring===
{{multiple image
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| image1    =Nast-Boss-Tweed-1871.jpg
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| caption1  = ''The "Brains"''<br />[[Boss Tweed]] depicted by Thomas Nast in a wood engraving published in ''Harper's Weekly'', October 21, 1871
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| caption2  = ''A Group of Vultures Waiting for the Storm to "Blow Over"{{spaced ndash}}"Let Us Prey."''<br />The Tweed Ring depicted by Nast in a wood engraving published in ''Harper's Weekly'', September 23, 1871
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| caption3  = ''The Tammany Tiger Loose—"What are you going to do about it?"'', published in ''Harper's Weekly'' in November 1871, just before [[Election Day (politics)|election day]]. "Boss" Tweed is depicted in the audience as the Emperor.
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| caption4  = The 1876 cartoon that helped identify Boss Tweed in Spain
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Nast's drawings were instrumental in the downfall of [[William M. Tweed|Boss Tweed]], the powerful [[Tammany Hall]] leader.<ref>Paine 1974, p. 204.</ref> As commissioner of public works for New York City, Tweed led a ring that by 1870 had gained total control of the city's government, and controlled "a working majority in the State Legislature".<ref>Paine 1974, p. 140.</ref> Tweed and his associates—[[Peter B. Sweeny|Peter Barr Sweeny]] (park commissioner), [[Richard B. Connolly]] (controller of public expenditures), and Mayor [[A. Oakey Hall]]—defrauded the city of many millions of dollars by grossly inflating expenses paid to contractors connected to the Ring.<ref>Paine 1974, pp. 174–177.</ref> Nast, whose cartoons attacking Tammany corruption had appeared occasionally since 1867, intensified his focus on the four principal players in 1870 and especially in 1871.<ref>Paine 1974, pp. 145, 147, 158, 178.</ref>

Tweed so feared Nast's campaign that he sent an emissary to offer the artist a bribe of $100,000, which was represented as a gift from a group of wealthy benefactors to enable Nast to study art in Europe.<ref>Paine 1974, p. 181.</ref> Feigning interest, Nast negotiated for more before finally refusing an offer of $500,000 with the words, "Well, I don't think I'll do it. I made up my mind not long ago to put some of those fellows behind the bars".<ref>Paine 1974, pp. 181–182.</ref> Nast pressed his attack in the pages of ''Harper's'', and the Ring was removed from power in the election of November 7, 1871.<ref>Shirley, David (1998). ''Thomas Nast: Cartoonist and Illustrator''. New York: Franklin Watts. p. 51. </ref> Tweed was arrested in 1873 and convicted of fraud. When Tweed attempted to escape justice in December 1875 by fleeing to [[Captaincy General of Cuba|Cuba]] and from there to [[First Spanish Republic|Spain]], officials in [[Vigo]] were able to identify the fugitive by using one of Nast's cartoons.<ref>Paine 1974, pp. 336–337.</ref>

===Party politics===
Nast was the first journalist who did not own his newspaper to play a major role in shaping public opinion. His cartoons were influential in deciding five presidential elections: [[Abraham Lincoln]] (1864); [[Ulysses S. Grant]] (1868 and 1872); [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] (1876)—all Republicans—and Democrat [[Grover Cleveland]] (1884). His biting cartoons ridiculed the losers: [[George B. McClellan]] (1864); [[Horatio Seymour]] (1868); [[Horace Greeley]] (1872); [[Samuel J. Tilden]] (1876); and [[James G. Blaine]] (1884). Nast effectively sat out the 1880 election because he distrusted Republican [[James A. Garfield]] (who won) and admired Democrat [[Winfield Scott Hancock]], a Civil War hero and Nast's personal friend. 

In addition to his talent, creativity and the repetitive impact of his cartoons, Nast benefited from his lack of meaningful competition before ''[[Puck (magazine)|Puck]]'' arrived in 1877, and from the financial strength, editorial consistency and reach of ''[[Harper's Weekly]]''. America's leading illustrated newspaper's circulation was about 120,000 during the Civil War, 200,000 during subsequent presidential elections, and almost 300,000 during the height of the Tweed campaign. With passalong readership, Nast's audience reached 500,000 to more than a million viewers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adler |first=John |title=America's Most Influential Journalist: The Life, Times and Legacy of Thomas Nast |publisher=Harpweek Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-0578294544 |pages=iii}}</ref>

The single most important and influential cartoon that Nast ever drew appeared in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' on August 24, 1864 (post-dated September 3) as the [[Democratic National Committee]] was assembling in Chicago to nominate McClellan (whom Lincoln had fired as his top Union general two years earlier) for president. ''Compromise with the South—Dedicated to the Chicago Convention'' captured the very crux of the existential emotional and political stake at issue in the forthcoming election.

Nast's scathing caricature featured an arrogant, exultant [[Jefferson Davis]] shaking hands with a crippled Union soldier who—with his head bowed and his only leg shackled to a ball and chain—humbly accepted it. Columbia, representing the Union and modeled by Nast's wife Sallie, wept at the gravestone marked "In Memory of Our Union Heroes Who Fell in a Useless War." As Davis's boot stomped on a Union grave and broke the sword of Northern Power, the cat-o'-nine-tails in his left hand was ready to flog his vanquished enemies. A Black family in chains despaired behind Davis. The Union flag, upside down in distress, recited its successes, including emancipation, on its stripes; the Confederate flag detailed a list of atrocities.

On October 16—almost eight weeks after Nast's cartoon appeared—the ''Richmond Enquirer'' published some more extreme demands which were not in the Democratic platform. Lincoln's reelection managers took Nast's cartoon, added "The Rebel Terms of Peace," and made more than a million copies as campaign posters. In combination with General [[William Tecumseh Sherman|William T. Sherman]]'s capture of Atlanta on September 1 and General [[Philip Sheridan|Phil Sheridan]]'s victory in the Shenandoah Valley on October 19, "A Traitor's Peace" probably was the single most effective visual campaign advertisement in any American presidential election before or since.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adler |first=John |title=America's Most Influential Journalist: The Life, Times and Legacy of Thomas Nast |publisher=Harpweek Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-578-29454-4 |pages=xi}}</ref>

Nast played an important role during the [[1868 United States presidential election|presidential election in 1868]], and Ulysses S. Grant attributed his victory to "the sword of Sheridan and the pencil of Thomas Nast."<ref>Vinson, John C. [http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/thomas_nast ''Thomas Nast, Political Cartoonist''.] Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1967.</ref> In the 1872 presidential campaign, Nast's ridicule of [[Horace Greeley]]'s candidacy was especially merciless.<ref>Gerry, Margarita S. (2004) ''Through Five Administrations: Reminiscences of Colonel William H. Crook Body Guard to President Lincoln''. Kessinger Publishing. p. 192. {{ISBN|1417960795}}.</ref> After Grant's victory in 1872, [[Mark Twain]] wrote the artist a letter saying: "Nast, you more than any other man have won a prodigious victory for Grant—I mean, rather, for Civilization and Progress."<ref>Paine 1974, p. 263.</ref> Nast became a close friend of President Grant and the two families shared regular dinners until Grant's death in 1885.

Nast and his wife moved to [[Morristown, New Jersey]] in 1872<ref>Halloran 2012, p. 190.</ref> and there they raised a family that eventually numbered five children.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas Nast {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/american-art-biographies/thomas-nast#:~:text=Personal,Attended%20National%20Academy%20of%20Design. |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> In 1873, Nast toured the United States as a lecturer and a sketch-artist.<ref>Paine 1974, pp. 283–285.</ref> His activity on the lecture circuit made him wealthy.<ref>Halloran 2012, p. 188.</ref> Nast was for many years a staunch Republican.<ref>United States, Diane K. Skvarla, and Donald A. Ritchie (2006). ''United States Senate Catalogue of Graphic Art''. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 329. {{ISBN|0160728533}}.</ref> Nast opposed [[inflation]] of the [[currency]], notably with his famous rag-baby cartoons, and he played an important part in securing [[Rutherford B. Hayes]]' ultimate victory in the [[1876 United States presidential election|presidential election in 1876]].<ref>Paine 1974, pp. 334–335, 349.</ref> Hayes later remarked that Nast was "the most powerful, single-handed aid [he] had",<ref>Paine 1974, p. 349.</ref> but Nast quickly became disillusioned with President Hayes, whose lenient policy towards the South in removing federal troops he opposed.<ref>Paine 1974, p. 352.</ref>

The death of the ''Weekly''{{'}}s publisher, [[Fletcher Harper]], in 1877 resulted in a changed relationship between Nast and his editor [[George William Curtis]]. His cartoons appeared less frequently, and he was not given free rein to criticize Hayes or his policies.<ref>Halloran 2012, pp. 228–229.</ref> Beginning in the late 1860s, Nast and Curtis had frequently differed on political matters and particularly on the role of cartoons in political discourse.<ref name="Halloran_228">Halloran 2012, p. 228.</ref> Curtis believed that the powerful weapon of caricature should be reserved for "the Ku-Klux Democracy" of the opposition party, and did not approve of Nast's cartoons assailing Republicans such as [[Carl Schurz]] and [[Charles Sumner]] who opposed policies of the Grant administration.<ref>Paine 1974, pp. 216–218.</ref> Nast said of Curtis: "When he attacks a man with his pen it seems as if he were apologizing for the act. I try to hit the enemy between the eyes and knock him down."<ref name="Keller"/> Fletcher Harper consistently supported Nast in his disputes with Curtis.<ref name="Halloran_228"/> After his death, his nephews, Joseph W. Harper Jr. and John Henry Harper, assumed control of the magazine and were more sympathetic to Curtis's arguments for rejecting cartoons that contradicted his editorial positions.<ref>Halloran 2012, pp. 228–230.</ref>

Between 1877 and 1884, Nast's work appeared only sporadically in ''Harper's'', which began publishing the milder political cartoons of [[William Allen Rogers]]. Although his sphere of influence was diminishing, from this period date dozens of his pro-Chinese immigration drawings, often implicating the Irish as instigators. Nast blamed U.S. Senator [[James G. Blaine]] (R-Maine) for his support of the Chinese Exclusion Act and depicted Blaine with the same zeal used against Tweed. Nast was one of the few editorial artists who took up for the cause of the Chinese in America.<ref>Paine 1974, pp. 412–413</ref>

During the presidential election of 1880, Nast felt that he could not support the Republican candidate, [[James A. Garfield]], because of Garfield's involvement in the [[Crédit Mobilier of America scandal|Crédit Mobilier scandal]]; and did not wish to attack the Democratic candidate, [[Winfield Scott Hancock]], his personal friend and a Union general whose integrity commanded respect. As a result, "Nast's commentary on the 1880 campaign lacked passion", according to Halloran.<ref>Halloran 2012, p. 248.</ref> He submitted no cartoons to ''Harper's'' between the end of March 1883 and March 1, 1884, partly because of illness.<ref>Halloran 2012, pp. 250–252.</ref>

In 1884, Curtis and Nast agreed that they could not support the Republican candidate [[James G. Blaine]], a proponent of high tariffs and the [[spoils system]] whom they perceived as personally corrupt.<ref>Halloran 2012, p. 255; Paine 1974, p. 480.</ref> Instead, they became [[Mugwumps]] by supporting the Democratic candidate, [[Grover Cleveland]], whose platform of [[United States federal civil service|civil service]] reform appealed to them. Nast's cartoons helped Cleveland become the first Democrat to be elected president since 1856. In the words of the artist's grandson, Thomas Nast St Hill, "it was generally conceded that Nast's support won Cleveland the small margin by which he was elected. In this his last national political campaign, Nast had, in fact, 'made a president'."<ref>Nast & St. Hill 1974, p. 33.</ref>

Nast's tenure at ''Harper's Weekly'' ended with his Christmas illustration of December 1886. It was said by the journalist [[Henry Watterson]] that "in quitting ''Harper's Weekly'', Nast lost his forum: in losing him, ''Harper's Weekly'' lost its political importance."<ref>Paine 1974, p. 528</ref> Fiona Deans Halloran says "the former is true to a certain extent, the latter unlikely."<ref>Halloran 2012, p. 270.</ref>

Nast lost most of his fortune in 1884 after investing in a banking and brokerage firm operated by the swindler [[Ferdinand Ward]]. In need of income, Nast returned to the lecture circuit in 1884 and 1887.<ref>Paine 1974, pp. 510, 530.</ref> Although these tours were successful, they were less remunerative than the lecture series of 1873.<ref>Halloran 2012, pp. 266, 271.</ref>

{{Gallery
| align             = center
| height             = 200
| File:Compromise with the South - Dedicated to the Chicago Convention - Th. Nast. LCCN2002723256.jpg|''Compromise with the South—Dedicated to the Chicago Convention'' (1864) by Thomas Nast
| File:Traitor's Peace.jpg|1864 Lincoln Campaign Poster ''The Rebel Terms of Peace''
| File:Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner (November 1869), by Thomas Nast.jpg|An 1869 Nast cartoon supporting the Fifteenth Amendment<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1122.html |title=Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner, Artist: Thomas Nast |work=On This Day: HarpWeek |publisher=The New York Times Company |date=November 2001 |first=Robert C. |last=Kennedy |access-date=November 23, 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011123201735/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/1122.html |archive-date=November 23, 2001 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thomasnastcartoons.com/selected-cartoons/uncle-sams-thanksgiving-dinner-two-coasts-two-perspectives/ |title=Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner: Two Coasts, Two Perspectives |first=Michele |last=Walfred |work=Thomas Nast Cartoons |date=July 2014 |access-date=March 5, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305182430/http://thomasnastcartoons.com/selected-cartoons/uncle-sams-thanksgiving-dinner-two-coasts-two-perspectives/ |archive-date=March 5, 2016 }}</ref> optimistically envisions a multicultural comity that interprets the national motto ''E pluribus unum'' as a heartening holiday family gathering; "In the words of [[J. Henry Harper]], 'Nast was one of the great statesmen of his time. I have never known a man with a surer political insight. He seemed to see approaching events before most men dreamed of them as possible.'"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Faust |first=Albert Bernhardt |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000336567 |title=The German element in the United States: with special reference to its political, moral, social, and educational influence |date=1909 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=978-0-7905-6587-3 |location=Boston |page=363 |language=en-us}}</ref>
|File:Schurz Corruption.jpg|[[Carl Schurz|Interior Secretary Schurz]] cleaning house, ''Harper's Weekly'', January 26, 1878
|File:Senatorial Round House by Thomas Nast 1886.jpg|''Senatorial Round House'', from ''Harper's Weekly'', July 10, 1886
|File:Thomas Nast from Harpers Weekly.png|Portrait of Thomas Nast from ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'', 1867
}}

===After ''Harper's Weekly''===
[[File:Thomas Nast (1840-1902) (3467747948).jpg|thumb|Thomas Nast, 1902]]

In 1890, Nast published ''Thomas Nast's Christmas Drawings for the Human Race''.<ref name="Oxford" /> He contributed cartoons in various publications, notably the ''[[The Illustrated American|Illustrated American]]'', but was unable to regain his earlier popularity. His mode of cartooning had come to be seen as outdated, and a more relaxed style exemplified by the work of [[Joseph Keppler]] was in vogue.<ref>Halloran 2012, p. 272.</ref> Health problems, which included pain in his hands which had troubled him since the 1870s, affected his ability to work.

In 1892, he took control of a failing magazine, the ''New York Gazette'', and renamed it ''Nast's Weekly''. Now returned to the Republican fold, Nast used the ''Weekly'' as a vehicle for his cartoons supporting [[Benjamin Harrison]] for president. The magazine had little impact and ceased publication seven months after it began, shortly after Harrison's defeat.<ref>Paine 1974, p. 540, Halloran 2012, p. 275.</ref>

The failure of ''Nast's Weekly'' left Nast with few financial resources. He received a few commissions for oil paintings and drew book illustrations. In 1902, he applied for a job in the State Department, hoping to secure a consular position in western Europe.<ref name="Halloran_278" /> Although no such position was available, President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] was an admirer of the artist and offered him an appointment as the United States' Consul General to [[Guayaquil]], [[Ecuador]] in [[South America]].<ref name="Halloran_278">Halloran 2012, p. 278.</ref> Nast accepted the position and traveled to Ecuador on July 1, 1902.<ref name="Halloran_278" /> During a subsequent [[yellow fever]] outbreak, Nast remained on the job, helping numerous diplomatic missions and businesses escape the contagion. He contracted the disease and died on December 7 of that year.<ref name="Oxford" /> His body was returned to the United States, where he was interred in the [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)|Woodlawn Cemetery]] in [[The Bronx]], [[New York City]].