The American River Ganges is an informative political cartoon that was published on September 30, 1871 in Harper’s Weekly by Thomas Nast. With the increase in Irish immigration, Roman Catholic schools started to show up all around New York during the 1870’s. Many Catholics began dropping out of protestant public school system to attend Roman Catholic schools. The Harper’s Weekly was associated with the Republican Part. Nast and Harper’s Weekly posted a political cartoon displaying politicians lowering children from a destroyed school with the American flag upside down into the “American River Ganges” which is full of crocodiles dressed as Bishops. The crocodiles dressed as Bishops represented the Catholics forcing children into their Catholic schools. This was significant at the time because of the tension between Protestants and Catholics especially in the school systems and between the Irish and Americans had spewed into a political debate.