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THE FOX HUNT.
   
Complete Explanation:
Again Van Buren's flirtation with radical interests is portrayed as his downfall. As in "The Modern Colossus" (no. 1848-56) antislavery activist Abby Folsom (here "Abby Fulsome") is prominently featured. Here she witnesses Van Buren's flight from various foes, each depicted as an animal.

In pursuit of Van Buren are Zachary Taylor (as an alligator), and senators Thomas Hart Benton (a bull), John C. Calhoun (a lion), and Daniel Webster (an elephant). Taylor vows, "I'll swallow him directly," while Webster says, "Let me put my foot on him." A crane "Poke," actually incumbent Democratic President James K. Polk, swoops toward the fleeing fox from the sky.

On the left stand editor Horace Greeley, Folsom, and longtime Van Buren ally Benjamin F. Butler. Greeley tells the fox to "Run under my white coat Matty. It will not be the first time that it has covered a fox. But, cheer up, for there is still balm in Gilead. You shall be the candidate of the Fourierites [i.e., members of the reform movement championed by Greeley]."

Folsom laments, "Now that he has doubled on his track & come over to us, what a pity that we can't save him!"

Butler exclaims, "Alas! Alas! is this the end of my devotedness, my martyrdom, & above all, my state preaching?"

Van Buren replies, "It's no use friends, my cake is all dough, as my face used to be. Why did you drag me out of my hole to be tormented thus." "Doughface" was a name given northern friends of slave interests, which Van Buren was perceived to have been during his administration.


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