1-150-645 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'A Still Bigger Claimant', 1872. John Bull, the representative of the British people, is dwarfed by a huge American claim. The claim is being inflated by the representative of the American administration, spurred on by the forthcoming Presidential Elections. This cartoon relates to a matter that had been going on since the end of the American Civil War. The Alabama Claims had been prompted by the damage done to American commerce by the 'Alabama', a privateer fitted out in England. The main issue was whether England should have accepted responsibility for preventing the ship from leaving England. The amount of the claim continued to grow. From Punch, or the London Charivari, January 20, 1872.