political cartoon assignment

The New York Times

The Learning Network | Drawing for Change: Analyzing and Making Political Cartoons

Drawing for Change: Analyzing and Making Political Cartoons

Updated, Nov. 19, 2015 | We have now announced the winners of our 2015 Editorial Cartoon Contest here .

Political cartoons deliver a punch. They take jabs at powerful politicians, reveal official hypocrisies and incompetence and can even help to change the course of history . But political cartoons are not just the stuff of the past. Cartoonists are commenting on the world’s current events all the time, and in the process, making people laugh and think. At their best, they challenge our perceptions and attitudes.

Analyzing political cartoons is a core skill in many social studies courses. After all, political cartoons often serve as important primary sources, showing different perspectives on an issue. And many art, history and journalism teachers take political cartoons one step further, encouraging students to make their own cartoons.

In this lesson, we provide three resources to assist teachers working with political cartoons:

• an extended process for analyzing cartoons and developing more sophisticated interpretations;
• a guide for making cartoons, along with advice on how to make one from Patrick Chappatte, an editorial cartoonist for The International New York Times ;
• a resource library full of links to both current and historic political cartoons.

Use this lesson in conjunction with our Editorial Cartoon Contest or with any political cartoon project you do with students.

Materials | Computers with Internet access. Optional copies of one or more of these two handouts: Analyzing Editorial Cartoons ; Rubric for our Student Editorial Cartoon Contest .

Analyzing Cartoons

While political cartoons are often an engaging and fun source for students to analyze, they also end up frustrating many students who just don’t possess the strategies or background to make sense of what the cartoonist is saying. In other words, understanding a cartoon may look easier than it really is.

Learning how to analyze editorial cartoons is a skill that requires practice. Below, we suggest an extended process that can be used over several days, weeks or even a school year. The strength of this process is that it does not force students to come up with right answers, but instead emphasizes visual thinking and close reading skills. It provides a way for all students to participate, while at the same time building up students’ academic vocabulary so they can develop more sophisticated analyses over time.

Throughout this process, you might choose to alternate student groupings and class formats. For example, sometimes students will work independently, while other times they will work in pairs or small groups. Similarly, students may focus on one single cartoon, or they may have a folder or even a classroom gallery of multiple cartoons.

Open-Ended Questioning

We suggest beginning cartoon analysis using the same three-question protocol we utilize every Monday for our “ What’s Going On in This Picture? ” feature to help students bring to the surface what the cartoon is saying:

• What is going on in this editorial cartoon?
• What do you see that makes you say that?
• What more can you find?

These simple, open-ended questions push students to look closely at the image without pressuring them to come up with a “correct” interpretation. Students can notice details and make observations without rushing, while the cyclical nature of the questions keeps sending them back to look for more details.

As you repeat the process with various cartoons over time, you may want to ask students to do this work independently or in pairs before sharing with the whole class. Here is our editorial cartoon analysis handout (PDF) to guide students analyzing any cartoon, along with one with the above Patrick Chappatte cartoon (PDF) already embedded.

Developing an Academic Vocabulary and a Keener Eye

Once students gain confidence noticing details and suggesting different interpretations, always backed up by evidence, it is useful to introduce them to specific elements and techniques cartoonists use. Examples include: visual symbols, metaphors, exaggeration, distortion, stereotypes, labeling, analogy and irony. Helping students recognize and identify these cartoonists’ tools will enable them to make more sophisticated interpretations.

The Library of Congress (PDF) and TeachingHistory.org (PDF) both provide detailed explanations of what these elements and techniques mean, and how cartoonists use them.

In addition to those resources, three other resources that can help students develop a richer understanding of a cartoon are:

• The SOAPSTone strategy, which many teachers use for analyzing primary sources, can also be used for looking at political cartoons.
• This student handout (PDF) breaks up the analysis into two parts: identifying the main idea and analyzing the method used by the artist.
• The National Archives provides a cartoon analysis work sheet to help students reach higher levels of understanding.

Once students get comfortable using the relevant academic vocabulary to describe what’s going on in a cartoon, we suggest returning to the open-ended analysis questions we started with, so students can become more independent and confident cartoon analysts.

Making an Editorial Cartoon

The Making of an Editorial Cartoon

Patrick Chappatte, an editorial cartoonist for The International New York Times, offers advice on how to make an editorial cartoon while working on deadline.

Whether you are encouraging your students to enter our Student Editorial Cartoon Contest , or are assigning students to make their own cartoons as part of a history, economics, journalism, art or English class, the following guide can help you and your students navigate the process.

Learn from an Editorial Cartoonist

We asked Patrick Chappatte, an editorial cartoonist for The International New York Times, to share with us how he makes an editorial cartoon on deadline, and to offer students advice on how to make a cartoon. Before watching the film above, ask students to take notes on: a) what they notice about the process of making a cartoon, and b) what advice Mr. Chappatte gives students making their own cartoons.

After watching, ask students to share what information they find useful as they prepare to make their own editorial cartoons.

Then, use these steps — a variation on the writing process — to help guide students to make their own cartoons.

Step 1 | Brainstorm: What Is a Topic or Issue You Want to Comment On?

As a professional cartoonist, Mr. Chappatte finds themes that connect to the big news of the day. As a student, you may have access to a wider or narrower range of topics from which to choose. If you are entering a cartoon into our Student Editorial Cartoon Contest, you can pick any topic or issue covered in The New York Times, which not only opens up the whole world to you, but also historical events as well — from pop music to climate change to the Great Depression. If this a class assignment, you may have different instructions.

Step 2 | Make a Point: What Do You Want to Say About Your Topic?

Once you pick an issue, you need to learn enough about your topic to have something meaningful to say. Remember, a political cartoon delivers commentary or criticism on a current issue, political topic or historical event.

For example, if you were doing a cartoon about the deflated football scandal would you want to play up the thought that Tom Brady must have been complicit, or would you present him as a victim of an overzealous N.F.L. commissioner? Considering the Republican primaries , would you draw Donald Trump as a blowhard sucking air out of the room and away from more serious candidates, or instead make him the standard- bearer for a genuine make-America-great-again movement?

You can see examples of how two cartoonists offer differing viewpoints on the same issue in Newspaper in Education’s Cartoons for the Classroom and NPR’s Double Take .

Mr. Chappatte explains that coming up with your idea is the most important step. “How do ideas come? I have no recipe,” he says. “While you start reading about the story, you want to let the other half of your brain loose.”

Strategies he suggests for exploring different paths include combining two themes, playing with words, making a joke, or finding an image that sums up a situation.

Step 3 | Draw: What Are Different Ways to Communicate Your Ideas?

Then, start drawing. Try different angles, test various approaches. Don’t worry too much about the illustration itself; instead, focus on getting ideas on paper.

Mr. Chappatte says, “The drawing is not the most important part. Seventy-five percent of a cartoon is the idea, not the artistic skills. You need to come up with an original point of view. And I would say that 100 percent of a cartoon is your personality.”

Consider using one or more of the elements and techniques that cartoonists often employ, such as visual symbols, metaphors, exaggeration, distortion, labeling, analogy and irony.

Step 4 | Get Feedback: Which Idea Lands Best?

Student cartoonists won’t be able to get feedback from professional editors like Mr. Chappatte does at The International New York Times, but they should seek feedback from other sources, such as teachers, fellow students or even family members. You certainly can ask your audience which sketch they like best, but you can also let them tell you what they observe going on in the cartoon, to see what details they notice, and whether they figure out the ideas you want to express.

Step 5 | Revise and Finalize: How Can I Make an Editorial Cartoon?

Once you pick which draft you’re going to run with, it’s time to finalize the cartoon. Try to find the best tools to match your style, whether they are special ink pens, markers or a computer graphics program.

As you work, remember what Mr. Chappatte said: “It’s easier to be outrageous than to be right on target. You don’t have to shoot hard; you have to aim right. To me the best cartoons give you in one visual shortcut everything of a complex situation; funny and deep, both light and heavy; I don’t do these cartoons every day, not even every week, but those are the best.” That’s the challenge.

Step 6 | Publish: How Can My Editorial Cartoon Reach an Audience?

Students will have the chance to publish their editorial cartoons on the Learning Network on or before Oct. 20, 2015 as part of our Student Contest. We will use this rubric (PDF) to help select winners to feature in a separate post. Students can also enter their cartoons in the Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards new editorial cartoon category for a chance to win a national award and cash prize.

Even if your students aren’t making a cartoon for our contest, the genre itself is meant to have an audience. That audience can start with the teacher, but ideally it shouldn’t end there.

Students can display their cartoons to the class or in groups. Classmates can have a chance to respond to the artist, leading to a discussion or debate. Students can try to publish their cartoons in the school newspaper or other local newspapers or online forums. It is only when political cartoons reach a wider audience that they have the power to change minds.

Where to Find Cartoons

Finding the right cartoons for your students to analyze, and to serve as models for budding cartoonists, is important. For starters, Newspaper in Education provides a new “ Cartoons for the Classroom ” lesson each week that pairs different cartoons on the same current issue. Below, we offer a list of other resources:

• Patrick Chappatte
• Brian McFadden

A Selection of the Day’s Cartoons

• Association of American Editorial Cartoonists
• U.S. News and World Report

Recent Winners of the Herblock Prize, the Thomas Nast Award and the Pulitzer Prize

• Kevin Kallaugher in the Baltimore Sun
• Jen Sorensen in The Austin Chronicle
• Tom Tomorrow in The Nation
• Signe Wilkinson in the Philadelphia Daily News
• Adam Zyglis in The Buffalo News
• Kevin Siers in The Charlotte Observer
• Steve Sack in the Star Tribune

Historical Cartoonists

• Thomas Nast
• Paul Conrad

Other Historical Cartoon Resources

• Library of Congress | It’s No Laughing Matter
• BuzzFeed | 15 Historic Cartoons That Changed The World

Please share your own experiences with teaching using political cartoons in the comments section.

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I can’t imagine teaching civics and government without political cartoons—they are  essential  to the subject. 

They make the best entry point for introducing concepts and diving deeper into diverse viewpoints on political issues. 

Head over to my blog post,  How to Teach Political Cartoons , where I detail the POPES process I’ve used for years. Then, download your  FREE lesson kit  to get started.

This analysis strategy works well for bell ringers to cover current political news and as part of the main lesson to teach civics concepts. 

Certain topics, I’ve found over the years, are perfect for using cartoons to teach. So here I’ve outlined some activity ideas for using them to help you teach five key government concepts.

Finding Great Political Cartoons

First, though, we need to find some good cartoons! 

I don’t link to any specific cartoons in this blog post simply because the second I do, they’re dated! 

Usually, only a few cartoons are perennial enough to use the following year, and I’m constantly swapping in fresh ones my students can best relate to. You’ll want to do this as well.

Here are my go-to spots for grabbing high-resolution current and historical political cartoons:

Daryl Cagle’s  searchable database of current cartoons

The Week’s  and   US News’s  collections of recent cartoons

Library of Congress’s collection of over  800 cartoons from throughout American history    and their dedicated  Herbert Block collection  that spans much of the late 1900s

Wikimedia Commons’ collection of  Puck  and  Judge  magazine covers from the late 1800s and early 1900s

Teaching How to Analyze Cartoons

As I said above, I use the POPES method I’ve developed over the years. Before using cartoons to teach content, students need to have the skills to understand them. 

Be sure to spend time teaching how to analyze political cartoons before your first lesson that uses them! My  FREE Political Cartoon Analysis Kit  is a complete how-to lesson that does this for you.

Okay, now that’s all taken care of, let’s dive into civics concepts that are perfect for using political cartoons to teach. I’ve never found a shortage of cartoons to help students learn and develop claims on these five topics.

Principles of the Constitution

After introducing the  different principles of the US Constitution ,  I have my students identify them in political cartoons depicting events that relate to each. 

For example, I’ll pick a cartoon of the President and Congress at odds over a recent veto to illustrate checks and balances. Or a cartoon dealing with Election Day for popular sovereignty. 

You can search using the principles themselves, but you don’t want the cartoon actually to  say  the principle. That’s why I also search for recent events that have involved the concept. 

I’ll post these cartoons around the room as stations. Students first analyze them and then identify which principle each best depicts. 

Different Forms of Governments

I do an almost identical lesson sequence when we learn the  different types of government systems .

Here, it’s helpful to use countries I’ve already given as examples of the various types when I first defined them. 

For example, a cartoon of the UK’s King Charles trying to fill the shoes of his mother to illustrate  monarchy . 

I like how the  Cagle database  includes international cartoonists, to which you can limit your search.  

Find cartoons depicting each system of government that your students need to learn and make matching cards for formative practice. 

Voting Issues & Attitudes

During my  Voting & Election Unit , I search terms like “voting” or “Election Day” or, even more specifically, for issues like “voter turnout” or “vote by mail.”

You should have no problem finding a variety of cartoons that illustrate attitudes about the upcoming election and voting rights and access. 

Use cartoons from across the nation to introduce voting issues affecting different states. This helps emphasize how, while voting is a federal right, how we vote is handled at the state level. 

If your state is vote-by-mail only, share cartoons depicting long voter lines, for example. 

You can also have students agree or disagree with the cartoons’ punchline, providing evidence from what they’ve learned to support their position. 

For example, select cartoons that argue things like voter apathy among young people or that voting is unnecessarily complicated.

Three Branches

While covering each of the  Three Branches , it’s a no-brainer to use cartoons to familiarize students with current issues with each branch. 

Pull a few cartoons that depict both hyper-current and more perennial issues, like gridlock in Congress, the President struggling with sagging popularity, or the Supreme Court announcing a controversial decision. 

As important as it is to teach the Constitutional logistics of each branch, it is to teach the issues of how those branches operate in real life, and cartoons are perfect for this!

During this unit, cartoons like these make perfect bell ringer activities.

Amendments & Civil Liberties 

In my  Civil Liberties unit , I use cartoons in a few ways. First, historical cartoons are a great way to illustrate that so many essential rights have not always been granted. 

Cartoons pushing for or celebrating the ratification of various amendments make excellent source material: the 17 th Amendment to popularly elect senators, the 19 th  Amendment to grant women the right to vote, and the 26 th Amendment to lower the voting age to 18. 

These make an easy matching activity for students to pair to the amendment they are dealing with. 

Or, as you are exploring the Supreme Court’s current docket, pull some cartoons that deal with these court cases. They help show the dilemma and controversy of rights involved. 

I hope these ideas have sparked activity ideas for using political cartoons to support learning in your Civics or Government class. Grab my  FREE   Political Cartoons Analysis Kit for a done-for-you starter kit to get going with teaching with cartoons!

Feature image photo credit: Bank Phrom

Make the Citizenship Test the Best Part of Your Civics Class

5 ways to use political cartoons in your civics class.

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Education Standards

Wyoming standards for english language arts.

Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text

Standard: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).

Standard: Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.

Standard: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.

Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards

Standard: Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text.

Common Core State Standards English Language Arts

Cluster: Craft and Structure.

Checklist for Political Cartoons Assignment

Political cartoons, argument in political cartoons.

This lesson involves students exploring political cartoons and analyzing the argument being made.  Students will work in groups to build skills, then they will get an assignment to practice the skill on their own.

The teacher can choose to make this activity an in-person discussion or an online one.  In either case, it may be helpful to begin with small groups, then expand to the whole class discussion so that more students have an opportunity to answer.

Here are some answers to the discussion questions:

Also known as an “editorial cartoon” (b/c it is traditionally found next to the editorial)

Gives the artist’s opinion on a current issue

Uses hyperbole (exaggeration), satire to draw attention to an issue

Attempts to persuade people to agree with an opinion

Often has well-known people, trends, or issues

Artists use techniques to persuade the viewer to agree with their point of view

What do you know about political cartoons?  What are they? What is their purpose? Where are they found?  What are they about?  What techniques do the cartoonists use?

Brainstorm a list of answers to these questions as a class.

Have students work with a partner and note their answers to the questions in the lesson.  When groups are finished, you can save some time and repetition by having certain groups discuss the first cartoon, others discuss the second, and still others discuss the third.

Be sure to give groups feedback about how accurately they responded.  In addition, make sure students explain their responses thoroughly so that you can tell when they are ready to do the independent practice on the next page.

Studying political cartoons is a great way to begin to think about visual arguments.  These cartoons are making an argument.  Look at the three cartoons in the attachment and, with a partner, analyze that argument by answering these questions.

• What ‘action’ is happening?
• What people, objects, or things are in the cartoon?
• What symbols are being used?
• What is the tone? (positive, negative)
• Does it show a ‘kind of globalization’? (social, political, economic, cultural, technological)
• What is the overall message and do you agree with it? Explain.

When you and your partner are finished, you will be sharing your responses with the class.

This assignment works well as a formative assessment that will tell you if students are ready to write a rhetorical analysis of a visual argument or if they need additional practice before they can write a formal paper.   

Use the attached checklist to assess whether students are ready to move on to the next lesson.  Items should only be checked off if the student has responded accurately and completely.  Students can be asked to resubmit their work if it does not meet the teacher's requirements.

The list of discussion questions was taken from this website:   Source

Now that you have practiced and received feedback, your assignment is to find a political cartoon of your own to analyze.  Copy the picture into a document and answer each of the questions.  Cite your source using the method your teacher assigns.

Questions for Analysis:

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Analyzing political cartoons -- middle grades.

Political cartoons are an excellent way to assess the popular culture of a particular time period. This lesson will combine history and language arts by asking students to examine various political cartoons in order to analyze point of view, symbolism, analogy, captions/labels, and irony, as is recommended in Pennsylvania’s Core Standards.

This lesson also will help students use their critical thinking skills to understand various historical events and, at the end of the lesson, students will have the opportunity to create their own cartoon. HSP has hundreds of political cartoons so if you find that you would like to use more, feel free to contact us for a full list of age appropriate cartoons for your classroom.

Essential Questions

Students will:

• Learn how to analyze political cartoons.
• Apply figures of speech such as Exaggeration, Irony, Analogy, and Symbolism.
• Understand the author’s point of view.
• Determine the importance of the historical moment.

Other Materials

Common Uses of Symbolism in Political Cartoons Workshee t Political Cartoon Analysis Worksheet

Suggested Instructional Procedures

1. To begin this lesson, it is important to discuss each of the vocabulary for analysis. These vocabulary words are set up to help your students determine the author’s point of view. You can use the examples given or come up with your own as you see fit. If your students have never seen some of the vocabulary words, this will probably take a little longer, yet for students who are already familiar with the terms this will work as a refresher.

2. Next, go over with the students the vocabulary for historical context. These are people or terms that will show up in the political cartoons; therefore, they should at least know the bare minimum. This way, when they see the words or names, they have enough background knowledge to understand the picture. It will be best for each student to be given a handout with the historical content necessary so that he or she can refer to it while observing the cartoons.

3. Now, explore the Common Symbolism worksheet with students. This will help them grasp common themes that will pop up in political cartoons, such as donkeys representing the Democratic Party, elephants representing the Republican Party, and rats representing dirt or filth, etc.

4. Once the students have sufficient background knowledge, you can display the political cartoons. Have the students take out their Political Cartoons Analysis worksheet and fill out a row for each cartoon. Make sure to walk students through the first cartoon, pointing out how each of the vocabulary is used in the cartoon.

5. By cartoon two or three, begin to let students write out on their own the symbolism, irony, point of view, exaggeration, and analogy that they find in the cartoons. By the end, they should be able to work independently to figure out what the cartoon is depicting, using their vocabulary and common symbolism worksheets as a guide. After students finish their independent assessment of a couple cartoons, present the findings with the class to make sure students understood.

6. As a final objective, ask students, individually or in pairs, to create a cartoon of their own which expresses their point of view on a specific topic. This final objective can be historical, relating to the topics in the cartoons, or something from their everyday life. For example, ask them how they would use symbolism to show things in their everyday life, such as “Cleaning their room,”  “Lunchtime at school,” or “Snow Day,” just to give a couple of topic examples.  Also, you could ask them to create a cartoon that talks about a specific topic in history that was being discussed such as the Civil War or a Presidential election etc.

Vocabulary needed for analysis: Symbolism: Something that stands for something else. For example, a heart can be a symbol for love. Irony : Words that mean that opposite of their usual meaning, for Example, a bald man named “Harry.” Analogy: Comparison between two different things that may have similar characteristics. For example, he is as loyal as a dog or she runs as fast as a cheetah. Exaggeration: Making something seem more that it really is, for example, telling your parents that if you do not get the toy you want, it will be the ‘end of the world.’ Inference: Conclusions reached based upon reasoning and evidence.  For example, if I draw a picture of a bug with a big red X over it, based on the evidence from the picture you could infer that I do not like bugs.

Vocabulary for Historical Context : Abraham Lincoln: 16th president of the United States (1861-65). He was the president during the Civil War and he signed the Emancipation Proclamation that emancipated the slaves. Jefferson Davis: President of the South (confederacy) during the Civil War from 1861-65. William Taft: President of the United States from 1909-1913. Known for being a very large man. Woodrow Wilson: United States Democratic President after Taft (1913-1921). He is sometimes depicted as weak in political cartoons due to his views on maintaining neutrality rather than entering World War I. George McClellan: A General for the North during the Civil War. He believed in preserving the union first. Inauguration: A ceremony that begins a president’s term in office. Secession: Withdrawing or removing yourself from membership, usually withdrawing from membership in a government. For example, the southern states seceded from the Union during the civil war to form the Confederate States of America. Garfield: President of the United States (1881), yet only briefly because he was assassinated.  

Plans in this Unit

Grade level, standards/eligible content, about the author.

Alicia Parks, Education Intern, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Attention Teachers!

Let us know how you used this plan and be featured on our site! Submit your story here.  

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How to Make a Political Cartoon

Last Updated: April 17, 2023 References

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 67 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 404,506 times. Learn more...

Expressing your political views through a political comic can be a humorous and effective way to convey your message. Through the use of certain artistic techniques and elements, you can present your political issue in a light that is in line with the content of your political subject matter. Learning what you might want to include and how to assemble it can help you create a great political comic and clearly express your views.

Planning The Comic

• Political cartoons aim to illustrate a certain issue and represent a viewpoint regarding it.
• Political cartoons generally make use of simple artwork to get their point across quickly and cleanly.
• Most political cartoons aim to illustrate perceived problems or defend political positions.

• Consider the issue you want to cover in your cartoon.
• Think of what you want to say about the issue.
• Imagine how you might represent the issue in your cartoon.

• Elephants and donkeys are good examples of commonly used symbols to represent political parties in the United States of America.
• Eagles are used to represent the United States of America itself.

• Exaggerating a person's features can help make them more recognizable.
• You can use exaggeration to make someone appear in a certain light, depending on the message you want to send.
• Generally, caricatures are used to make fun of someone or their message.

• Using labels can be a good technique to make the message of the comic clear.
• Although labels are acceptable in political cartoons, try not to overuse them.
• Label only important aspects of your comic.

• Think in terms of “like”.
• For example, international disputes about borders could be like children arguing on a playground about who owns the slide.

Creating The Comic

• Think about how best to use your space.
• Ask yourself what elements are most important. Give them the most space and attention in your layout.
• You might find that some original ideas don't fit or are cluttering the comics' intended message. Consider removing these extraneous elements.

• Start outlining with a pencil, allowing you to make changes later on.
• Once you are happy with how the sketch looks begin to clean up your lines.
• Clean your lines by either making them bold or by erasing any rough areas and drawing them smoothly.
• It's okay to make some last minute changes and add some finishing touches.
• If you are happy with how your comic looks you can finalize your lines using black ink.

• Speech bubbles are generally smooth and oval shaped, with a triangular extension that points towards the person speaking.
• You may also want to use thought bubbles. Thought bubbles are like speech bubbles but appear as small clouds, holding your characters inner dialogue within them.

• Colors can carry meaning. For example, the Democratic party of the United States uses blue.
• You can use any coloring tools you feel comfortable with including colored pencils, ink, or even crayons.
• You may also consider scanning your black and white image into a computer and digitally coloring it.

• There are many programs that allow you to create a comic using digital art, much like you would with a pen and paper.
• Some services come with art preloaded, allowing you to use this art in your own layout by simply dragging and dropping figures and elements where you want them.

Sharing Your Comic

• Ask your friends and family for their honest opinions about the comic.
• Any discussions that result can be used for ideas when creating future comics.
• Ask your friends and family if they feel the "message" of your comic is clear.
• Discuss what they like about the comic or what changes they might have to suggest.

• Some social media sites cater to artwork or comics.
• Social media allows you to share your comic with a wide audience.
• On-line communities can offer helpful feedback, allowing you to improve your comics.

• Submit your comics to publishers or publishing syndicates.
• There are many independent publishers that also accept comic submissions.
• Check with local or smaller publications to increase your chances of getting published.
• Self-publishing a collection of your comics might be an option for you.

Community Q&A

• Digital software can be a quick and easy way to create your comic. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 0
• Make a rough layout of the overall comic. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0
• Think about the methods you want to use to deliver the message, including symbolism or analogy. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 1

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• ↑ http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/drawing-for-change-analyzing-and-making-political-cartoons/?_r=0
• ↑ http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-eg/6460
• ↑ http://gomedia.com/zine/tutorials/some-like-it-dirty-comic-book-inking-and-coloring-tutorial/
• ↑ http://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2014/01/how-do-comics-artists-use-speech-balloons-s/
• ↑ http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/all_about_comics/all_about/76/

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Module 10: Westward Expansion (1800-1860)

Reading political cartoons, learning objectives.

• Identify the different components of a political cartoon

Part One: Analyzing Visual Components

A political cartoon, a type of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist’s opinion. They typically combine artistic skill, hyperbole, and satire in order to question authority and draw attention to corruption, political violence, or other social ills.

First, we will walk through a political cartoon analysis together.

Worked Example, Southern Ideas of Liberty:

The political cartoon below was published around 1835 by an anonymous author, possibly in Boston. It is a response to the tarring, feathering, and lynching of anti-slavery activists in several southern states. Around 1835, several slave states passed resolutions calling for the North to suppress abolitionist activities and societies, as they were a threat to the slave-labor economy of the South. The image is titled “Southern Ideas of Liberty.”

Figure 1 . 1835 political cartoon titled “Southern Ideas of Liberty.”

In the image, a judge with ass’s ears and a whip, seated on bales of cotton and tobacco with the Constitution underfoot, condemns a White man (an abolitionist) to hanging. The prisoner is roughly dragged by two captors toward a crowd of jubilant men who surround a gallows. In the distance, a cauldron of tar boils over an open fire.

The text below the image reads:

Sentence passed upon one for supporting that clause of our Declaration viz. All men are born free & equal. “Strip him to the skin! give him a coat of Tar & Feathers!! Hang him by the neck, between the Heavens and the Earth!!! as a beacon to warn the Northern Fanatics of their danger!!!!” [1]

What to Look For

The visual components of a political cartoon are the ones you can see in the image. They speak to artistic choice, symbolism, and realism vs. fantasy. What visual elements do you see in the political cartoon above? As you read through the list below, look at the image and think about how each visual element was carefully chosen by the artist to send a message or evoke an emotion.

Who are the people depicted in the cartoon? Are they real historical individuals or are they symbolic of a larger group or movement? Where are the characters in relation to each other?

Often, animals are used in political cartoons in place of people or institutions (like the snake in Ben Franklin’s cartoon on the previous page) – do you see any animals or humans who have been given animal or animal-like features? What are some common traits or characteristics assigned to that animal? What might be the historical context of the animal being used?

Buildings or Furniture

Do you see any buildings in the image? What type of building is it? Is it standing or crumbling? Is there any furniture in the image like a throne, a chair, a table, a carpet, etc? Is it luxurious furniture or is it rough? What might be the purpose of including certain types of furniture?

Look for any other objects in the image like ladders, trees, household items, boats, trains, etc. What do you think they represent? Is it a direct representation or a symbolic representation? How is it being used and by whom?

Do you see any logos, insignias, flags, shapes, or other symbols? What group or person are they connected to? Where are they in the image in relationship to the other visual components? Are they being used to label another component?

Style Choices

This section pertains more to how the artist drew the visual elements, rather than what they drew. Look for elements like exaggeration of features or objects, irony in the way people or objects are depicted in relationship to one another (irony is defined as “a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects”), or the use of analogy comparing a complex situation or issue to a simple one in order to make it easier to understand (i.e., comparing a presidential election to a horse race).

As you can see, analyzing a political cartoon is not always cut and dry. Sometimes, one element can fall into multiple categories or be from different perspectives. Much of this analysis is “could be,” since we do not know what the author’s actual intention was when the cartoon was created. We can only speculate based on what we see and what we know. The following Practice Questions will test your ability to analyze the visual components of a different cartoon.

Answer the questions below based on the cartoon above.

Visual Components

• “Grand Presidential Sweepstakes for 1849.”
• “An Available Candidate.”
• “Cock of the Walk.”
• Figures – who are the people depicted in the cartoon? Are they real historical individuals or are they symbolic of a larger group or movement? Where are the characters in relationship to each other?
• Animals – often, animals are used in political cartoons in place of people or institutions (like the snake in Ben Franklin’s cartoon above) – do you see any animals or humans who have been given animal or animal-like features? What are some common traits or characteristics assigned to that animal? What might be the historical context of the animal being used?
• Buildings and/or Furniture – do you see any buildings in the image? What type of buildings is it? Is it standing or crumbling? Is there any furniture in the image like a throne, a chair, a table, a carpet, etc? Is it luxurious furniture or is it rough? What might be the purpose of including certain types of furniture?
• Objects – look for any other objects in the image like ladders, trees, household items, boats, trains, etc. What do you think they represent? Is it a direct representation or a symbolic representation? How is it being used and by whom?
• Symbols – do you see any logos, insignias, flags, shapes, or other symbols? What group or person are they connected to? Where are they in the image in relationship to the other visual components? Are they being used to label another component?
• Style Choices – this is more about how the artist drew the visual elements, rather than what they drew. Look for elements like exaggeration of features or objects, irony in the way people or objects are depicted in relationship to one another (irony is defined as “a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects”), or the use of analogy, comparing a complex situation or issue to a simple one in order to make it easier to understand (i.e., comparing a presidential election to a horse race).

Part Two: Analyzing Creative Components

The creative components refer to things about the cartoon that you cannot see in the image: the author, the purpose or agenda, the audience, the ideology, and the context. Looking at our example from above (“Southern Ideas of Liberty”), we can run through the creative components for our analysis:

Who was the author/artist? What did they do for a living? What were their political or social beliefs and associations? (i.e., were they a Whig or a Democrat? Abolitionist? Wealthy or working class?)

Purpose/Agenda

Was the piece created to help support or to speak out against a person, institution, or organization? Was it meant to make a logical argument or a more emotional appeal to the audience? What was the author’s agenda in creating the cartoon?

Who is the audience that this piece is targeting? What do you think is the gender, race, socioeconomic status, nationality, and education level of the target audience?

What basic ideals is the cartoon supporting or speaking out against? (i.e., freedom, independence, courage, self-reliance, immorality, dishonesty, greed)

Figure out where and when the cartoon was first published. What type of historical context was the cartoon printed in? What else was going on at the time that could have had an influence on the content of this particular cartoon or on its author or audience? Think about social, cultural, political, economic and military events, even natural disasters or climate events. All of these would have informed the context of the political cartoon you are analyzing.

Out of these five elements, the Purpose or Agenda and the Context are the most important for understanding political cartoons. The purpose or agenda of the cartoon is the most important because it shows what issues were important to people at the time of its creation. If you go to the Library of Congress website and select a decade on the left-hand menu, you can scroll through the cartoons and see which topics have the most material. This can be a good measure of which issues, people, or events were being frequently discussed during that time period.

Context is important because political cartoons are essentially a form of propaganda, which is a medium that is difficult to understand outside of its own time period. For example, many people in the modern era are required to read Virgil’s Iliad in school as an example of Classical literature, but few realize that it was actually written as a propaganda piece to boost the image of the Emperor. Nearly anyone who read the Iliad at the time it was written would be able to recognize it as propaganda because of the literary features, language, and subject matter. Context is sort of like an inside joke, where you “had to be there” to get it. Since we cannot be back in history, our context has to be taken from what we know about the time period from other sources.

Creative Components

You will now analyze the creative components of your own political cartoon which you chose in the activity above. Instead of doing an analysis of all five, you will focus only on the two most important ones mentioned in the paragraph above: Purpose/Agenda and Context .

Using the visual components of your cartoon as supporting evidence, write two brief paragraphs (3-5 sentences) describing the Purpose and Context of your cartoon. This is an open-ended exercise, but you can use the spaces below to jot down your ideas.

• HarpWeek, American Political Prints, 1766-1876. Retrieved June 15, 2021, from https://loc.harpweek.com/LCPoliticalCartoons/DisplayCartoonLarge.asp?MaxID=42&UniqueID=42&Year=1835&YearMark=1830 ↵
• Reading Political Cartoons. Authored by : Lillian Wills for Lumen Learning. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Political Cartoon. Provided by : Wikipedia. Located at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_cartoon . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• A Society of Patriotic Ladies at Edenton in North Carolina Interactive. Authored by : Dr. Christy Jo Snider. Located at : https://sites.berry.edu/csnider/resources/patriotic-ladies/ . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Southern Ideas of Liberty Political Cartoon. Provided by : Library of Congress. Located at : https://loc.harpweek.com/LCPoliticalCartoons/DisplayCartoonLarge.asp?MaxID=42&UniqueID=42&Year=1835&YearMark=1830 . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright

80 Fascinating Political Cartoon Ideas To Deal With

Table of Contents

Are you a cartoonist or a journalist who needs political cartoon ideas? Do you want interesting political cartoon essay ideas for your assignment? Well, have a look at this blog post. Especially, to help you out, here, we have presented a list of amazing political cartoon ideas, themes, and political cartoon essay topics. In addition to that, for beginners, we have shared a brief overview of political cartoons and also explained how to sketch a political cartoon.

Continue reading and get fascinating ideas for creating a political cartoon.

What is a Political Cartoon?

A Political Cartoon or Editorial Cartoon is a cartoon that is created to present a point or a statement about a current political issue or event. It will be usually found near the editorial columns of the daily newspapers. Even you can find this type of cartoon on political websites and news magazines.

The main purpose of a political cartoon is to make readers laugh and trigger them to critically think about current political issues in a different manner. Also, it helps to spread information to society about current events and allows them to generate critical opinions.

In general, the political cartoon is characterized by metaphorical and satirical language. Mostly, political cartoonists will make a point about a certain political event of the day like a funny joke by drawing cartoons of public figures or politicians. Some powerful persuasive techniques that political cartoonists use the most are labeling, analogy, symbolism, irony, and exaggeration.

Learn How to Make a Creative Political Cartoon

The following are simple and effective steps that you need to follow to draw a persuasive political cartoon or a comic.

• Firstly, pick a unique idea for your political cartoon. Especially, to generate political cartoon ideas, you can look at some examples. Also, you can view already published political cartoons and know about the common elements and themes used in them.
• Secondly, analyze the political issue you have chosen and identify what message you want to say and how you want to say it to your readers.
• Thirdly, find out what symbolism you want to use in your political cartoon. For example, to represent the USA, Eagles are used.
• Fourthly, figure out what exaggerations to use. For example, when you insert a caricature of a politician, to highlight the unique features they possess, you can use any exaggeration. This will help your readers to easily recognize the person.
• Next, note what needs to be labeled. Labeling important elements in your comic will increase the impact of your message and make the narrative clear. But do not overuse them.
• Identify what analogy to use in your comic. Using analogies will help your readers understand the message easily and view the issue from a different perspective.
• Once you have planned your comic, create a rough draft for it.
• Next, using a pencil, sketch the outline of your political cartoon.
• After sketching, add dialogues in your comic to present your message.
• Finally to make your comic stand out, color your comic using colored pencils, ink, crayons, or any other coloring tool that is comfortable for you. Note that, the colors you use can carry meaning. For example, blue can be used to represent the Democratic Party of the United States.

Get Feedback

After you have created your political cartoon or a comic, share it with your friends or relatives and get their feedback. Mostly, by sharing your work with others, you can determine whether they understood the message you conveyed in your comic or not. Also, you can improve the quality of your work based on their comments.

Lastly, once everything looks perfect for you, you can submit your political cartoon or comic for publishing.

Also read: Intriguing Political Science Research Topics for Students

Know How to Find the Political Cartoon Idea for an Essay

To create an essay on a political cartoon, a good topic is necessary. In case, you are unsure how to come up with a unique Political Science Assignment Help cartoon topic idea for your essay, follow the below-mentioned tips.

• Choose a topic that is interesting for you. But remember, the political cartoon essay topic that you select might be argumentative or persuasive.
• Pick a topic that contains a wide scope of discussion.
• Give preference to a topic that contains numerous examples and credible sources of reference.
• Select a topic that allows you to share your opinions freely.
• Go with a topic that is unique and informative.
• Finalize the political cartoon essay topic only if it matches the essay writing guidelines shared by your instructor.

List of Political Cartoon Essay Topic Ideas

In this section, we have presented a wide range of captivating political cartoon essay ideas and fascinating political cartoon essay topics . Feel free to go through them all and choose any idea that fits you perfectly.

Simple Political Cartoon Ideas

• Create a political cartoon on health care reform in the US.
• Sketch a political cartoon on Trump’s healthcare amendments.
• Make a political cartoon on the right to privacy.
• Create a satiric cartoon on American Politics.
• Sketch a political cartoon on Indian Politics.
• Analyze the political cartoons of Dr.Seuss.
• Discuss how children’s cartoons are politicized.
• Analyze political cartoons in different countries.
• Write about the political cartoon on the events of the Berlin Aircraft.
• Analyze the political cartoon ‘School Begins’.

Popular Political Cartoon Ideas

• Sketch a political cartoon on the Washington Post.
• Create a political cartoon on Obamacare.
• Make a political cartoon on the Russia – Ukraine War.
• Compare two political cartoons.
• Analyze the rhetoric behind a political cartoon.
• Discuss the importance of political cartoons.
• Analyze the political cartoons from the art of persuasion.
• Discuss the common symbols used in political cartoons,
• Explain the political impact of political cartoons.
• Analyze Granlund’s political cartoon.

Also read: Excellent High School Essay Topics for Students

Interesting Political Cartoon Ideas

• Explain the power of political cartoons in shaping public opinion.
• Analyze the use of humor in political cartoons.
• Write about gender representation in political cartoons.
• Analyze the role of satire in political cartoons.
• Explain the use of symbols and metaphors in political cartoons.
• Are political cartoons a tool for social change?
• Explain the role of caricature in political cartoons.
• Discuss the cultural and regional variations in political cartoons.
• Write about the satirical techniques used in political cartoons.
• Discuss the ethics of political cartooning.
• Analyze the role of irony and satire in political cartoons.
• Gary McCoy’s Political Cartoon as Visual Argumentation
• Analyze the political cartoon of Mike Likovich.
• Political cartoons from the crash to the millennium.
• Explain how a cartoonist uses visual rhetoric to show discrimination in political cartoons.

Captivating Political Cartoon Essay Topics

• Are political cartoons an important historical source?
• Analyze the political cartoon’s representation of Native American discrimination.
• Examine McCarthyism in political cartoons and its relationship to the crucible.
• Explain how Kirk Anderson uses symbols, imagery, and humor in his political cartoons.
• Discuss the irony behind Henry Payne’s political cartoon.
• Explain what political cartoons tell us about the US foreign policy during the Reagan years.
• Discuss the political control monopolies hold over Congress in Joseph Keppler’s political cartoon.
• Join or Die: A political cartoon from Philadelphia in 1754.
• Analyze the political cartoon “Love the Police”
• Examine the political cartoon on Transnational Corporations.
• Discuss the negative issues caused by political cartoons.
• Examine political cartoons on the Scope of the Monkey Trial.
• Explain the influence of American Political Cartoons.
• Analyze the political cartoon of Elian Gonzalez’s Removal.
• Compare the political cartoon of Liberals and Conservatives Thurgood Marshall, Jr.

Amazing Political Cartoon Topics for Essays

• Prepare a rhetorical analysis essay of a 2016 political cartoon about journalism threats.
• Compare the political cartoon on the death of Obesity and the death of tobacco use.
• Analyze the symbol of a red hat with a white font in the political cartoons of David Horsey.
• Compose an essay about political cartoons on Imperialism.
• Analyze the use of symbols and humor in Kirk Anderson’s Political Cartoon on Technology taking over employment
• Explain the role of cartoons in Early American Politics.
• Analyze a political cartoon on the Transnational Corporation.
• Examine the irony behind the political cartoon of Henry Payne.
• Analyze Bob Engelhart’s cartoon about Ron Paul’s campaign.
• Analyze a political cartoon of the GOP war on Voting.

Excellent Political Cartoon Essay Ideas

• Examine a political cartoon concerning the presidential election.
• Are political cartoons a popular subgenre of media?
• Examine a political cartoon concerning the scholastic achievement test.
• Write about the political caricatures from the 1800s.
• Analyze the themes of personal responsibility and social responsibility in a political cartoon.
• Write about free expression in political cartoons.
• Describe the functions and roles of editorial cartoons.
• Analyze how the cartoonists use visual rhetoric and political illustrations.
• Examine the evolution of political cartoons in a changing media environment.
• Analyze the rhetorical devices used in political cartoons.

Also read: Top Criminology Dissertation Ideas To Consider

Outstanding Political Cartoon Essay Topics

• Write about the usage of satirical techniques in political cartoons.
• An oversimplification of drugs to death in a political cartoon.
• Analyze the political cartoon on Republican
• Do Indian political cartoons create a big impact?
• Analyze the political cartoons from World War I.
• The parallels between Thomas Nast and political cartoons.
• Discuss the mayor and the police department in political cartoons
• Analyze a controversial Indian political cartoon.
• Analyze how the dynamic progress of women’s rights in Canada is shown in political cartoons
• Examine the political cartoons of World War II rhetoric.

Final Words

Out of the numerous political cartoon ideas suggested above, you can choose any idea based on your preference. In case, you need an expert to offer you help with handling your assignments, contact us immediately. As per your needs, skilled essay helpers and well-qualified academic writers from our team will offer cheap and best essay help online. Most importantly, by utilizing our essay assignment help service , you can complete your task in advance of your deadline and impress your instructors.

Instead of pressurizing yourself, simply place your order on our website and enjoy all the benefits that our academic service provides.

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The Day's Best Political Cartoons for April 15, 2024

Posted: April 15, 2024 | Last updated: April 15, 2024

Why's He Still Wearing Those Glasses?

Surrender Mike Johnson

Draining The Swamp

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Trump's Wake-Up Call

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Welcome To The 19th Century

Help Find Closure

Did You Watch The Eclipse

Your Final Judge Is Here

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Pray And Vote

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I left a high-rise apartment to live in a van. It's not that much cheaper, but I've saved $70,000 over 3 years and won't ever go back to a traditional home.

Opinion | Sun cartoon rankles readers | READER COMMENTARIES

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Baltimore Sun eNewspaper

• Readers Respond

Every accusation is an admission

The political cartoon in The Sun on April 11 (“ Orange man bad “) provided yet another opportunity to step through that Republican-looking glass, where every accusation is an admission and every slander is a confession. The most glaring switcheroo operant here is the two lists under the heading of “Party Platforms.”  The pontificating pachyderm makes nine sober points (and counting), while the dang donkey only makes one, darn it, and it’s an ad hominem.  Well, gosh, golly and gotcha.

The problem here is that the Republican list is a catalog of aggravating grievances, not party platform points. The Republican Party explicitly and determinedly has no platform. What it does have is a slogan and a figurehead, and while it cultivates the many fears, both real and imaginary, of its faithful, it has no actual policies for remedying their anxieties — unless moralizing outrage, demonizing immigrants, idolizing firearms, suppressing votes and cosseting rich tax cheats can be characterized as “policies.” Pressed to a point, the Elephant will typically revert to the mindless slander of “Biden crime family,” rather like the Donkey is doing in the cartoon, when he says “Orange man bad.”  Needless to say, any objective comparison of the business dealings of Jared Kushner and Hunter Biden or a quick review of the leading presidential candidates under state and federal indictment would also further illustrate this accusation/admission, slander/confession dynamic handsomely.

If policy in a party platform is what’s wanted, the Elephant can hand his list over to the Donkey.  Readers might honestly disagree with equine policy proposals but at least they are something more concrete than the capricious poses, postures and attitudes of a wannabe autocrat.

Still, I would encourage those prodded by the point of this cartoon to give generously to the Republican party and its billionaire standard bearer, who needs money. With his daughter-in-law now minding the RNC store, he is well positioned to loot the party treasury to pay his ever-growing legal bills and his sky-rocketing civil judgments accumulating with interest as well as his citations for contempt of court.   It might well make the difference in the coming election.

— William O. Miles, Towson

Cartoon unfair to Democrats

I am a long, long-time subscriber to The Sunpapers, and I am very very upset with the cartoon showing the Republican platform of border, economy, crime, energy, Russia, China, Education, etc. vs. the Democratic platform of “Orange man bad.” That cartoon couldn’t have been more wrong. What legislation has the Republican Congress passed on any of these issues in the past years?  Republicans have only been interested in impeaching Joe Biden or hearing from his son.

Biden has helped to pass the massive infrastructure bill, tried to get funding for Ukraine, passed the largest in American history investment in climate change, helping to relieve student debt, capped drug prices for seniors by passing the Inflation Reduction Act, and more. Yet The Sunpapers runs a cartoon that indicates Democrats are only interested in getting the “orange man.” How unfair, how deceitful.

— Geri J. Schlenoff, Towson

GOP platform: Orange man good

What a misleading political cartoon, portraying the Republicans as somehow the “serious” party and Democrats as simply reacting to Donald Trump (the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted, held-liable sex offender). Apparently the cartoonist hasn’t been paying attention to the clown show that’s been playing out in Congress the past couple of years. And listing “Ukraine” as an issue the Putin wing is taking seriously? Give me a break. And calling it a party “platform”!  Remember the 2020 GOP platform? “Orange Man Good.” And that hasn’t changed.

— Charles Rammelkamp, Baltimore

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As a US diplomat, I helped circumvent Trump’s Muslim ban – then realised I was part of the problem

I quit when it sank in that pushing back at my routine embassy job felt less like resistance than complicity

W hen I began working as a consular officer at the US embassy in Ankara, Turkey, I was at the beginning of what was supposed to be a 20-year diplomatic career. Maybe I didn’t love all of US foreign policy, but in my routine visa assignment I was deeply committed to treating everybody I interviewed fairly and playing my part in facilitating the American immigrant dream. Then, on 27 June 2017, Donald Trump issued orders to begin implementing the “Muslim ban” . My routine job had suddenly become deeply morally fraught and instead of blandly facilitating the American dream, I was denying it to people based on their faith.

My first instinct was to draft a resignation letter, but I didn’t immediately send it because it felt at the time like I was part of a nigh-unanimous institutional rejection of an illiberal policy. More than 1,000 US diplomats put their signatures on an internal dissent cable against the Muslim ban when it was proclaimed. My boss hated the ban, my boss’ boss hated the ban, and the dozens of US ambassadors summoned to the foreign ministries of Muslim-majority countries to explain the policy tried to disown it as much as they possibly could. When I pushed back as much as I could, I did so with the full support of my bosses and colleagues. But, and this is the most important part, we always did so within the regulations.

We wanted to get waivers and exceptions for every applicant possible, so we sounded out exactly what criteria for waiving the ban Washington would accept. (Family separation? Loss of a valued employee for an American business?) We found where the bar was, we created templates and standard operating procedures, and got to work slotting as many people as we could into them. Within a few months, the ban interviews were rote checklists rather than impassioned pleas for humanity. Every applicant we got who checked the boxes was a moral victory; every one who didn’t make it was tragic. But, hey, we got to tell ourselves that we tried. As time wore on, I realised that fighting for individual waivers and exemptions was resistance by pedantry. What I found myself engaging in was a deeply non-confrontational performance of virtue rather than an act of sabotage.

Joe Biden repealed the Muslim ban on the first day of his presidency. When secretary of state Antony Blinken informed us that the policy had ended, he declared that the ban was “a stain on our national conscience”. It was never said in as many words, but the implication was that because we managed the policy to optimise exemptions and because we felt bad about it, and because leadership repudiated the policy in retrospect, it meant that we weren’t implicated. That the issue was settled.

But it isn’t settled. The presidential proclamation repealing the Muslim ban did not surrender a single iota of the authority to implement future bans. It was only when the Muslim ban was finally over that I fully realised what I had been part of; we created another tool in the toolbox, a set of procedures and standards for processing travel bans, waivers and exemptions that could be put to literally any purpose. Our internal resistance was fundamentally morally agnostic because we fought within the technical bounds of policy implementation rather than the fact of its declaration.

I quit the US state department a few months later. I quit because, despite all of our efforts from within the system to fight against the Muslim ban, there is nothing stopping a future president from reinstating it, or something like it. Trump has outright promised to reinstate an expanded and harsher Muslim ban if re-elected. I am confident that junior US diplomats in the same position I was will be disgusted, will try to push back. They might even dust off some of the old templates I made. But they will only serve to make things run smoother next time. A certain proportion of Muslim immigrants will find waivers. Some – maybe thousands, maybe most – sadly won’t, but the people implementing the ban will be better positioned to repudiate another future “stain on our national conscience”.

Resistance that shaves off the rough edges of inhumane policy without reversing it is not resistance, it is complicity. As theorist Stafford Beer says: “The purpose of a system is what it does,” and an immigration system with a smoothly running Muslim ban that has generous provision for waivers and exemptions is still an immigration system that bans Muslims. I quit the US diplomatic corps because internal resistance to a racist and illiberal political project is a losing bargain.

Josef Burton is a former US diplomat who served in Turkey, India and Washington DC

• US politics
• Trump travel ban
• US immigration

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