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James Akin (1846) was an American political cartoonist and engraver from 
Image:1802 Columbia SouthCarolina byJamesAkin Winterthur.png, Illustration by Akin published in
James Akin Collection
at the William L. Clements Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Akin, James 1770s births 1846 deaths 19th-century American artists 19th-century American journalists 19th-century male writers American caricaturists American editorial cartoonists American engravers American male journalists Artists from Charleston, South Carolina People from Newburyport, Massachusetts Writers from Charleston, South Carolina Writers from Philadelphia Year of birth uncertain
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
. He worked in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
and Newburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...
. Associates included President William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...
and Jacob Perkins
Jacob Perkins (9 July 1766 – 30 July 1849) was an American inventor, mechanical engineer and physicist. Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Perkins was apprenticed to a goldsmith. He soon made himself known with a variety of useful mechanical ...
. His works are held at the American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...
, Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
, U.S. National Portrait Gallery, and Winterthur Museum
Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Pronounced “winter-tour," Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana (culture), Americana in the United States. The museum and es ...
.Maureen O'Brien Quimby. The Political Art of James Akin. Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 7 (1972), pp. 59–112
Skillet incident
In the early 1800s, Akin worked as an engraver forEdmund March Blunt
Edmund March Blunt (June 20, 1770 – January 4, 1862) was an American navigator, author, and publisher of nautical magazines. He established a nautical book and chart publishing firm that became the largest publishing firm in the early 19th ce ...
in Newburyport. "In late October 1804 the two men argued publicly, and in the course of the disagreement Blunt threw an iron skillet
A frying pan, frypan, or skillet is a flat-bottomed pan used for frying, searing, and browning foods. It is typically in diameter with relatively low sides that flare outwards, a long handle, and no lid. Larger pans may have a small grab ha ...
at Akin, hitting an unfortunate passerby. Akin, uninjured, retaliated with a deragotory print of Blunt entitled 'Infuriated Despondency' and a verse he called 'A Skillet Song.'" The caricature was later featured in the ''Newburyport Herald
The ''Newburyport Herald'' (1797–1915) was a newspaper published in Newburyport, Massachusetts in the 19th century. It began in 1797 with the merger of two previous newspapers, William Barrett's ''Political Gazette'' and Angier March's ''I ...
'' in 1805 and in pottery throughout London and Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
in 2006, heaping scorn upon Blunt and his descendants. A few examples still exist.
Images
Examples of Akin's work:John Drayton
John Drayton II (June 22, 1766 – November 27, 1822) was Governor of South Carolina and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.
Education and career
Born on June 22, 1766, in Char ...
's ''A View of South Carolina,'' 1802 (Winterthur Museum)
Image:Cock ca1804 attrib to JamesAkin AmericanAntiquarianSociety.png, Caricature of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
and Sally Hemings
Sarah "Sally" Hemings ( 1773 – 1835) was an enslaved woman with one-quarter African ancestry owned by president of the United States Thomas Jefferson, one of many he inherited from his father-in-law, John Wayles.
Hemings's mother Elizabet ...
, ca.1804, attributed to Akin (American Antiquarian Society)
Image:1805 InfuriatedDespondency byJamesAkin NewburyportMA WorcesterArtMuseum.png, "Infuriated Despondency," 1805; satirical portrait of Edmund M. Blunt wielding footed skillet (Worcester Art Museum)
Image:1824 Caucus curs by JamesAkin LC 00005v.jpg, "Caucus curs in full yell," 1824; critique of "the press's treatment of Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
, and on the practice of nominating candidates by caucus during the presidential race of 1824" (Library of Congress)
Image:1830 sabbatarians byJamesAkin Philadelphia AmericanAntiquarianSociety.png, 1830 caricature of American Christian Sabbatarians
Sabbatarianism advocates the observation of the Sabbath in Christianity, in keeping with the Ten Commandments.
The observance of Sunday as a day of worship and rest is a form of first-day Sabbatarianism, a view which was historically heralded ...
, whose "goal was to prevent the federal government from desecrating the Sabbath by requiring that the mails be transported and the post offices open to the public seven days a week" (American Antiquarian Society)Richard R. John. Taking Sabbatarianism Seriously: The Postal System, the Sabbath, and the Transformation of American Political Culture. Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Winter, 1990)
Further reading
* Nina Fletcher Little. "The Cartoons of James Akin upon Liverpool Ware." Old-Time New England, (January 1938) * Lewis C. Rubenstein. "James Akin in Newburyport." Essex Institute Historical Collections (1966) *References
External links
*James Akin Collection
at the William L. Clements Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Akin, James 1770s births 1846 deaths 19th-century American artists 19th-century American journalists 19th-century male writers American caricaturists American editorial cartoonists American engravers American male journalists Artists from Charleston, South Carolina People from Newburyport, Massachusetts Writers from Charleston, South Carolina Writers from Philadelphia Year of birth uncertain