Harper's Weekly cartoons of Thomas Nast, who was recruited in 1862 and worked with the "Weekly" for more than 20 years. Nast was a feared caricaturist, and is often called the father of American political cartooning. He was the first to use an elephant as the symbol of the Republican Party. He also drew the legendary character of Santa Claus; his version became strongly associated with the figure, who was popularized as part of Christmas customs in the late nineteenth century. "Harper's Weekly" was the most widely read journal in the United States throughout the period of the Civil War. So as
Thomas Nast States Federal Government), Columbia (the female personification of American values), or the Democratic donkey, though he did popularize these symbols through his artwork. Nast was associated with the magazine "Harper's Weekly" from 1859 to 1860 and from 1862 until 1886. Albert Boime argues that: Nast was born in military barracks in Landau, Germany (now in Rhineland-Palatinate), as his father was a trombonist in the Bavarian 9th regiment band. Nast was the last child of Appolonia (Abriss) and Joseph Thomas Nast. He had an older sister Andie; two other siblings had died before he was born. His father held political convictions