''The Entry'' is a 1789 cartoon that depicted

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

riding a donkey into New York. It was first distributed during the time of Washington's inauguration as the first president of the United States. Many accounts say it was "hawked on the streets of the capitol". No copies of this work have been found since at least 1933.

Background

On April 14, 1789, Washington received official notification that he had been unanimously selected by the

electoral college An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

to be the first president of the United States. Washington set off from

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

to the U.S. capital in New York City on the morning of April 16. Washington passed through

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

;

Georgetown, Maryland Georgetown is an unincorporated community in northeastern Kent County, Maryland, United States. The community was laid out in 1736. Georgetown was named for Prince George who later became King of the United Kingdom. Georgetown is located on the ...

(in present-day Washington D.C.);

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

;

Grays Ferry, Philadelphia Grays Ferry, also known as Gray's Ferry, is a neighborhood in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, bounded (roughly) by 25th Street on the east, the Schuylkill River on the west, Vare Avenue on the south, and Grays Ferry Avenue on th ...

; and

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

, before arriving in New York on April 23. The

first inauguration of George Washington The first inauguration of George Washington as the first president of the United States was held on Thursday, April 30, 1789, on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City. The inauguration was held nearly two months after the beginning of the ...

took place on April 30, 1789, on the balcony of

Federal Hall Federal Hall was the first capitol building of the United States under the Constitution. Serving as the meeting place of the First United States Congress and the site of George Washington's first presidential inauguration, the building existe ...

in New York City.

Records of the cartoon

On the seventh of April, John Armstrong, Sr. wrote to

Horatio Gates Horatio Lloyd Gates (July 26, 1727April 10, 1806) was a British-born American army officer who served as a general in the Continental Army during the early years of the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War. He took credit for the Ameri ...

regarding the lavish preparations in New York City, saying Referring to the same letter, James Parton in ''Caricature and other comic art in all times and many lands'' (1877) refers to the couplet above as "one couplet of which was legible", and remarks that "This effort was more ill-natured than brilliant". In ''Our Country'', also published in 1877, Benson J. Lossing provided the following graphic description of the known couplet within the cartoon: On 8 March 1896, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' described it as: Another record of ''The Entry'' is found in the two-volume work ''A history of American graphic humor, 1747-1938'' (1933), by English-born American art historian William Murrell and published by the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

. In the index, he records it as "satire, published in 1789" and provides this description: One thesis says that it "appeared in early April 1789, probably over or directly after the Palm Sunday weekend." One modern account describes Humphreys in the cartoon as "laying palm branches" before Washington.

The cartoon in modern times

In '' Falwell v. Flynt'', 805 F.2d 484, 487 (4th Cir. 1986), Judge Wilkinson wrote:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Entry, The 1789 works Cultural depictions of George Washington Individual printed cartoons American political satire Satirical cartoons Caricature Fictional donkeys