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After “American Battle of Dorking,” Nast set the stage for the scheduled
coalition of the Liberal Republican and Democratic Parties at the latter’s
convention in Baltimore on July 9-10, 1872. In another escapist retreat into
the convenient detachment of Shakespeare for the July 6 issue of Harper’s
Weekly, Greeley is Antonio, the merchant of Venice, presented by his crafty
friend and supporter, Senator Reuben Fenton (as Bassanio), to August Belmont,
the outgoing chair of the Democratic National Committee, who is depicted as the
longsuffering yet apparently accommodating money-lender, Shylock. Here, the
money lending is for vote buying. |
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