How to Use the Images

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This caricature is typical of political cartoons of the time. It illustrates Van Buren's short stature — "Little Magician" — and clearly shows that he was always in the shadow of the popular Andrew Jackson.

1. How does the cartoon make fun of Jackson's battle with the Bank of the United States and Van Buren's Independent Treasury Act?

2. What is the point of view of the person who drew the cartoon?

3. What building appears in the background and why?

* The image on the screen has a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi), and therefore will print poorly. You can obtain a high resolution version of this drawing, but be aware that the entire file will take about 30 seconds to load with a 28.8K modem.

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