Ograbme is a snapping turtle from an 1807 political cartoon ridiculing the American Embargo Act of 1807.
Background[]
In 1807, the United States passed an embargo act at the request of President Thomas Jefferson. The Embargo Act of 1807 stated that American ships could not carry cargo to foreign ports and that foreign ships could not load cargo in American ports. Enforcement of the embargo proved very difficult, especially in the states bordering British Canada. Smuggling was widespread; Smugglers’ Notch in Vermont, for example, earned its name from illegal trade with British Canada. Jefferson attributed the problems with the embargo to lax enforcement. The embargo was also ridiculed in the New England press as Dambargo, Mob-Rage, or Go-bar-'em.
Origin[]
Ograbme is a common snapping turtle from an 1807 political cartoon snapping turtle from an 1807 political cartoon criticizing the American Embargo Act of 1807. Ograbme (holding a shipping license) grabs a merchant caught by in the act of sneaking a barrel of sugar to a British ship. The smuggler cries, “Oh, this cursed Ograbme!” (“Ograbme” is “embargo” spelled backwards.)
Public Domain Appearances[]
- Ograbme, or The American Snapping-turtle (1807)
- DEATH OF THE EMBARGO (1814)
Notes[]
Copyright[]
The political cartoon is public domain because it was made before 1930.