Often described as the most vivid of Thomas Nast’s cartoons is the image of Boss Tweed, as a Roman emperor, looking down on an arena where the Tammany Tiger stands over the symbolic images of republican government, justice, and commerce—all defeated and destroyed by the power of the Tammany political machine.

The tiger was originally the symbol of a fire company affiliated with the Tammany Society, a patriotic and social organization that evolved into the political machine of the Democratic Party in New York City. Nast made the tiger the symbol of unchecked political power.