Artifact 11. Primary source.

A Law for the Rich and another for the Poor

A contemporary comment on the legal system

Notice the JP's ass's ears - "the law is an ass".

Origin:
This political cartoon was created by an anonymous author, but according the www.historyhome.co.uk, the author was present in the  period  1760-1830, which the age of George III reign.

Purpose:
This political cartoon was drawn to show the author's perspective of the law system used in the late 18th century  and early 19th century Great Britain. The author wanted to express his criticism to the unfairness of  the law, by showing two sides, a rich man on the left and the poor on the right, and also, most important and sardonic symbol were the donkey, or you can say " ass", attached the lawyer's head, which seem as if the ears were born with it.

Value:
Obviously, in this political cartoon, the author is showing distaste over the way the the poor and the rich were treated differently. As you can see, we are looking at a courtroom where people are dressed in black suites with black top hats and the furniture designed the way to suit the room, I can tell that this scene took place in the 18th century and the 19th century in Great Britain.It is clear that this piece was showing full an atmosphere of stupidity, ignorance and chaff,  due to the author use of donkey ear on the lawyer's head as a symbol. Back in the old days , in Great Britain, donkey were called "ass" and they were stubborn , stupid, dumb and ignorant. So the author used the donkey ears to show that "the law is an ass", meaning that the law was used in ignorance and the lawyers are just too stubborn and coo coo to deal with the rich and the poor. The author basically thinks that they are treating them not the right way.

Limitation:
The piece doesn't tell us the results of the many court issues and also the statistics of the amount of  the poor or the rich imprisoned or executed. To examine the time period in this piece, it inaccurately reflects that it was during the time of industrial revolution .This political cartoon is not addressed to the those not involved in politics, the government, economy and people Outside Britain ,such as Asians.

Reflections:

1.          Which main topic does the artifact relate to? In what ways?

2.          Which other main topics does it also relate to?

3.          Why did you choose this artifact, and how much time did you spend creating and/or processing it?

4.          What insights and understanding have you gained from the creation and/or processing of this artifact?

5.          Does this artifact reflect your best work and/or ideas? Why, or why not?

6.          . Rate this artifact on a scale of -5 to 5(0 is neutral) for the following 4 criterion:

a)      Impact on the quality of your Portfolio

b)      Impact on your level of happiness/enjoyment

c)       Impact on your learning

d)      Level of creativity and originality

6. Any additional comments.