The able Doctor, or America Swallowing the Bitter Draught.

Date1774

MediumEtching on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 5 × 8 1/4 in (12.7 × 20.95cm)
Other (Platemark): 4.25 × 6.75cm (1 11/16 × 2 11/16 in)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1960-45

DescriptionThe lower margin reads, "The able Doctor, or America Swallowing the Bitter Draught."Label TextThis print was published in the London Magazine, or, Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer on May 1, 1774. Soon, Boston engraver Paul Revere copied the print and published it in Boston, for the Royal American Magazine, or Universal Repository of Instruction and Amusement.

The political cartoon illustrates Prime Minster Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (Lord North), with the Boston Port Bill in his pocket, pouring tea down the throat of America, who is represented as an Indigenous woman. Her arms are held back by William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice of England. The John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich and the First Lord of the Admiralty, holds down her feet and peers up her skirt while Britannia, represented as a white woman holding a spear, turns her head and weeps. This satirical depiction of the Earl’s invasive actions compared the Intolerable Acts’ impact upon the British American colonies to sexual violence. The act is enforced by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute and former Prime Minister, depicted in a Scottish kilt and holding a sword labeled “military law.” Two figures representing France and Spain look on and discuss what is occurring, but do not stop the crime taking place.Inscription(s)"L.M." in the upper margin stands for the "London Magazine." This print was published in the magazine on May 1, 1774.ProvenanceBefore 1960, H. Dunscombe Colt [1901-1973] (New York, NY); before 1960, purchased by the Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1960-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).