In 1832, Henry Clay made an impassioned speech before the Senate, denouncing President Andrew Jackson’s veto of the bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States. In his castigation of what he considered a mischievous use of the power of the veto, Clay characterized the bank as “a mere vehicle; just as much so as the steamboat is the vehicle which transports our produce to the great mart of New Orleans, and not the grower of that produce.” The steamboat depicted in freehand bronze powder on the underside of this box lid has streams of smoke trailing from the two stacks. The name “Veto” is emblazoned over the side paddle wheel and may be a reference to the Bank War that was dividing the country into factions. This box is not unique in addressing the polarization; Ammi Phillips, for instance, painted a virtual army of black-suited, stern-faced New Yorkers between 1829 and 1845, men holding newspapers such as the Albany Argus and the (Poughkeepsie) Anti-Bank Democrat. The exterior of the box, decorated with typical stenciled bronze powder motifs of pinecones, strawberries, multipetaled flowers, and leaves, gives no hint of the political sentiment discreetly hidden inside when the lid is closed.

Stacy C. Hollander, "Steamboat Veto Box," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 325.