Party Animals

Sara was not as brave as I, and decided to pose in front of the donkey and the elephant. The window on the right of the picture looks out towards the National Mall, though it is far away, you can see the Washington Monument poking up above the adjacent hotel. It was neat to study under such a monumental back drop.

I asked myself why it is that our country's most prestigious political parties are known by the donkey and the elephant, and as I expected, it came from those old timey political cartoons. I would paste the actual cartoons on here, but I just don't think there's room. The Republican elephant showed up for the first time in 1874, and the Democratic donkey in 1837. Here's something we learned while touring the United States Capitol Building, the Republicans are considered the "right" side, because they sit on the right side of the House chamber, as viewed from the audience. The Democrats, of course, sit on the left. Party on!