In 1776, war broke out in the Colonies of New England between British Subjects, colonists, and those emplyed by the crown to uphoald law and order across the Atlantic. The union that wuld emerge from the war would have to develop what the colnial powers they migrated from had been adding on for centuries: an understanding of national character. The colonists occupied territory to which they had no historical inheritance before European colonization, and their customs, language, and societal structure were of British origin. However, the decleration of indpendence testifies that the United States were an exceptional republic amongst monarcies.  Providing ideas, and a popular elaboration of society has been the task of many artists at any time and place. Our different perceptions of nationhood might discard of accept such visual interpretations, but they are nonetheless subjected reflections of of selected realities. As such, political cartoons, the source material for this thesis, can provide a detailed view of the particular process of picturing national identity, for a new nation that rescently had existed within the bounduries of their own empire.