Title: The prairie dog sickened at the sting of the hornet or a diplomatic puppet exhibiting his deceptions / J[ames] Akin, fect. Creator(s): Akin, James, ca. 1773-1846, artist

Date Created/Published: [Newburyport, Mass. : s.n.], 1804.

Medium: 1 print on pale blue-grey laid paper : etching with watercolor ; 28.5 x 40.6 cm (sheet)

Summary: James Akin's earliest-known signed cartoon, "The Prairie Dog" is an anti-Jefferson satire, relating to Jefferson's covert negotiations for the purchase of West Florida from Spain in 1804. Jefferson, as a scrawny dog, is stung by a hornet with Napoleon's head into coughing up "Two Millions" in gold coins, (the secret appropriation Jefferson sought from Congress for the purchase). On the right dances a man (possibly a French diplomat) with orders from French minister Talleyrand in his pocket and maps of East Florida and West Florida in his hand. He says, "A gull for the People."

Notes: The print was probably published in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where Akin was working in 1804-6.