Why is republicans symbol the elephant

Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Tom Porter. The donkey and elephant are widely known as symbols of the Democratic and Republican parties in the US.

President Andrew Jackson was nicknamed "jackass" and depicted as a mule by opponents — but he liked the nickname and ran with it. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Get a daily selection of our top stories based on your reading preferences. Loading Something is loading. Personification and symbolism are two of the strongest tools available to the political cartoonist.

Clifford Berryman is credited with introducing this lasting symbol into the American consciousness. In , President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot an old bear during a hunting trip. Since its founding, a total of 19 people have been elected president on a Republican ticket, including the incumbent president, Donald Trump. Like most, if not all, political parties around the world, the Republican Party has a party symbol which is associated with its ideologies and beliefs.

However, an alternate symbol for the party in states such as New York, Indiana, and Ohio is the bald eagle while log cabin is used in Kentucky. Generally, the party is synonymous with the elephant. According to the Republicans, an elephant is strong and dignified, which is part of what the party advocate for.

They both have different ideas about how the country should be run, and they also have different animals that represent them. The Republican party is represented by an elephant and the Democratic party is recognised by the symbol of a donkey. Well, it is thought the Republican elephant was first used like this by an Illinois newspaper during Abraham Lincoln's election campaign - perhaps as a symbol of strength, although it is still debated.

It was then made popular after a man called Thomas Nast - who was a Republican - drew it in a cartoon in a magazine in As for the Democratic donkey, it is thought this was first used during a presidential campaign in , after the candidate Andrew Jackson used it on his posters because of a nickname his opponents gave him. Again, Thomas Nast later used the cartoon animal to represent the Democrats and it became a popular symbol for the party by the end of the 19th century.