In 1828, Andrew Jackson was the democratic candidate for Presidency. His out-spoken, war hero persona led to his opponents referring to him as a jackass. Instead of being offended, Jackson took up the image and made it a symbol for his campaign. He is credited for rebranding the jackass from slow and obstinate to determined, willful, and steadfast. The next appearance of the jackass in politics was the 1870 drawing by cartoonist Thomas Nast, a vocal opponent of the Democrats. Although critics like Mark Twain proposed that comparing politicians to jackasses wasn’t fair to the jackass, it remains a term of derision. In his 1894 novel Pudd’n’head Wilson, Twain directly defended the jackass:
“There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless,” he wrote. “Observe the ass, for instance: his character is about perfect, he is the choicest spirit among all the humbler animals, yet see what ridicule has brought him to. Instead of feeling complimented when we are called an ass, we are left in doubt.”
