The first artifact is titled “It’s a wonder there aren’t more serious accidents”. It was made by Ding Darling in 1924. The second artifact is titled “Vote today.” It was made by Signe Wilkinson in 2020. I plan to focus my civic engagement speech on “It’s a wonder there aren’t more serious accidents”. Both of these artifacts are meant to encourage citizens to get out and vote. 

I chose these two artifacts because voting is one of the most important and main forms of civic engagement. I remember the times leading up to the 2020 election where it was advertised everywhere to register to vote and get out and vote. I wanted to be able to look at one artifact that was from a time that I was alive for and can recall and compare it to one from a different time period. Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to look at and analyze two artifacts encouraging voting from two very different times and situations. 

In 1924, America was in the midst of the roaring twenties. Life was good. Calvin Coolidge was the incumbent president and he was seen as a pretty laid back president. He was a man of few words and was generally well accepted by the public. 

Fast forward to 2020 and America is in the middle of the COVID pandemic, the economy is suffering, and the country feels very divided. Additionally, the incumbent president is Donald Trump who – whether you like him or hate him – was a very controversial and polarizing president. 

I think some of these differences of times are very prevalent at the surface level in these cartoons. In “It’s a wonder there aren’t more serious accidents”, the cartoon is focused on encouraging voting for the reason of keeping the “government machine” going. It emphasizes the problem that a lack of citizens voting will lead to the government veering off track or not functioning properly. 

In “Vote today.”, there is a clear different method and reasoning for encouraging voters to vote. The cartoon showcases two extreme sides of American politics and voters at the time. This cartoon uses the divided state of American voters as it way of encouraging more of them to vote. By implying that their inaction can lead directly to the winning of the other side, it motivates any voters who were staying on the sidelines due to the thought that their vote doesn’t matter or it won’t have an effect to get out and vote. 

I think it will be very interesting to further compare and contrast these two artifacts in my essay and also further explore the similarities and differences of America at the two times. The concept of voting is something that hasn’t really changed over these 100 years, however, the sentiment around it I feel definitely has and that’s why I think it will be interesting to further explore these two artifacts.