The Bosses of the Senate

{{Short description|1889 American political cartoon}}

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File:The Bosses of the Senate by Joseph Keppler.jpg

The Bosses of the Senate is an American political cartoon by Joseph Keppler,{{Cite web |title=Driving Question: Analyze and identify the causes of the rise of Populism in the 1890's |url=https://digital.library.sc.edu/blogs/academy/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2019/06/OS_L_DBQ_Populism_Labor_Reform_sources.pdf |website=University of South Carolina}}{{Cite web |title=From Progress to Poverty: America’s Long Gilded Age |url=https://www.bunkhistory.org/resources/2355 |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=Bunk}} published in the January 23, 1889, issue of Puck magazine.{{Cite web |date=1889 |title=The Bosses of the Senate |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002718861/ |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=Library of Congress |language=en}}

The cartoon depicts the United States Senate as a body under the control of "captains of industry". Robber barons representing trusts in various industries,{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Miranda |date=2017 |title=The Bosses of the Senate |url=https://prezi.com/p/ouzc0ae5_dej/the-bosses-of-the-senate/ |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=prezi.com |language=en}} depicted as obese, domineering, and powerful figures with swollen money bags for bodies, with their nature being juxtaposed with that of the senators of the 50th Congress, who Keppler implies are under the industrialists' control. The cartoon discusses with concern the rise of industry in the Gilded Age,{{Cite web |title=Handout B: "The Bosses of the Senate" |url=https://live-bri-dos.pantheonsite.io/activities/handout-b-the-bosses-of-the-senate/ |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=Bill of Rights Institute |language=en}} the expanding influence of monopolies and trusts, and the role of American lobbying. It is generally recognized as an early antitrust cartoon that played a role in the development of the Sherman Antitrust Act.{{Cite web |title=Anti-trust cartoon depicting giant corporations as 'the bosses of the Senate', 1889 (colour litho) |url=https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-US/american-school/anti-trust-cartoon-depicting-giant-corporations-as-the-bosses-of-the-senate-1889-colour-litho/nomedium/asset/322040 |access-date=2022-11-20 |website= |language=en}}

According to the Senate, The Bosses of the Senate is a "frequently reproduced cartoon, long a staple of textbooks and studies of Congress".{{Cite web |last=Keppler |first=Joseph |date=1889 |title=U.S. Senate: The Bosses of the Senate. |url=https://www.senate.gov/art-artifacts/historical-images/political-cartoons-caricatures/38_00392.htm#:~:text=Keppler%27s%20cartoon%20reflected%20the%20phenomenal,Anti-Trust%20Act%20in%201890. |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=www.senate.gov}} NPR has called the cartoon "the defining image of late 19th-century Washington".{{Cite web |title=NPR: Bosses of the Senate – Big Money and Politics |url=https://legacy.npr.org/news/specials/democracy/money/bosses.html |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=legacy.npr.org}} Historian Josh Brown has stated that it "expresses general public discontent and concern about the growing impact and power of large businesses" and "their control over the political process".{{Citation |last=NBC News |title=Bosses of the Senate |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J7aEnXe25I |language=en |access-date=2022-11-20|via=YouTube}}

Some contemporary commentators have asserted that such corporate interests still have immense power over lawmakers in modern-day America.{{Cite web |title=The Bosses of the Senate |url=https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/22/818252/- |date=December 22, 2009|access-date=2022-11-20 |website=Daily Kos}}