Who was the first political cartoonist to portray U.S. Democrats and Republicans as donkeys and elephants?

The donkey and elephant first appeared in the mid-19th century as the symbols of the U.S. Democratic and Republican parties. They were created by political cartoonist Thomas Nast. He began his work by using the symbol of a donkey in the American Art Journal. Next, he used the Democratic donkey in newspaper cartoons and made the symbol famous.

With the Republican elephant, it first appeared in a cartoon in Harper's Weekly in 1874. Nast drew a donkey clothed in lion's skin, scaring away at all the animals in the zoo. One of those animals, the elephant, was labeled “The Republican Vote.” That's all it took for the elephant to become associated with the Republican Party.

Today, Democrats say the donkey is smart and brave, while Republicans say the elephant is strong and dignified.