What message do you think Twain is trying to convey throughout "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"?

There is a sense in which this hilarious tale can be read
as something of a cutting commentary about American society in the time of writing. Note
the way in which Easterners are presented as being sophisticated and knowledgeable and
Westerners lack an education and are gullible, at least at surface level. Yet Twain does
this to explore these national stereotypes more deeply by exchanging the roles. The
Easterner (the narrator), is a snob who is gullible and easily tricked, whilst the
Westerner (Simon Wheeler) is someone who, whilst he lacks the formal education of the
narrator, nevertheless shows himself to be more intelligent and has the ability to
narrate and recount hilarious tales.

The tale within the
tale also would have had certain significance for Twain's readership. Daniel Webster was
a famous American statesman known for his rhetoric. Andrew Jackson was a former
president was a firm advocate of democracy and rights for everyone. The use of these
allusions show that the kind of picture of Americans that Twain was presenting was one
that had many different angles to it: Americans are depicted as having the ability to be
practical, resourceful and determined (traits that arguably Americans are famous for),
whilst at the same time naive, narrow-minded and easily tricked.