Illustrating History

Illustrating History Cartoons and captions compiled by Dr. Richard E. Beringer, professor of history emeritus at the University of North Dakota.

A CONSISTENT NEGROPHOBIST...

Harpers Weekly, August 25, 1860

"DROWNING GENTLEMAN. "Take that Rope away, you darned Nigger! What decent White Man, do you suppose, is going to allow himself to be saved by a confounded Nig ---" (Goes down, consistent to the last)"

This cartoon clearly captures the dilemma of Abraham Lincoln and the country as the 1860 presidential election approached. Charles Blondin was a famous French tightrope walker, who walked Niagara Falls. The task was more difficult than he expected however, and he almost lost his life and that of his manager who was riding on his back. Here Lincoln must balance his way across the falls of American politics, balancing the slave issue on his back, a political trick that was equally as difficult and carried the threat of equal disaster. Harpers Weekly, August 25, 1860.

THE COMING MAN'S PRESIDENTIAL CAREER, A LA BLONDIN

Harpers Weekly, August 25, 1860

By the summer of 1862, many Confederates feared that the Federal government would adopt an emancipation policy. Probably the most important reason most Confederates were upset by the prospect was that it would upset society as they knew it and would put to question whether race made blacks inferior to whites. The cartoon exaggerates the issue in order to put the question clearly. The artist was telling his readers that he believed that without emancipation the Confederacy would be doomed, pointing out that there were some Confederates who would rather go down to defeat that accept emancipation. The cartoon also points out that if blacks were freed, some Confederates would support their conscription into the army. Would white Confederates prefer free blacks in their army enhancing their chances of independence, or keep blacks out of the army and in slavery, and accept defeat? Harpers Magazine, August 16, 1862. This cartoon clearly captures the dilemma of Abraham Lincoln and the country as the 1860 presidential election approached. Charles Blondin was a famous French tightrope walker, who walked Niagara Falls. The task was more difficult than he expected however, and he almost lost his life and that of his manager who was riding on his back. Here Lincoln must balance his way across the falls of American politics, balancing the slave issue on his back, a political trick that was equally as difficult and carried the threat of equal disaster. Harpers Weekly, August 25, 1860.

A RARE OLD GAME OF "SHUTTLECOCK"...

Frank Leslies Illustrated Newspaper, June 20, 1863

"A RARE OLD GAME OF 'SHUTTLECOCK.'

JEFF - "No good sending him here. I'll have to send him back."

ABE - "He's none of mine, anyhow.""

Clement Vallandigham was in Congress when the Civil War broke out. His opposition to war measures alienated his constituents and he lost the 1862 election. Without authority to do so, General Burnside arrested him and subjected him to a court martial. He was convicted but Lincoln, embarrassed and wanting to let him off but not keep him around, expelled him to the Confederacy. Confederates did not want him either, and sent him to Canada where he continued his criticism. In1864, he returned to Ohio and was let alone. Neither Lincoln nor Davis trusted him. Frank Leslies Illustrated Newspaper, June 20, 1863.

LINCOL'S DREAM; OR, THERE'S A GOOD TIME COMING

Frank Leslies Illustrated Newspaper, February 14, 1963

The Union Army engaged in several unsuccessful campaigns, which the cartoon lists as part of the past, depicting the unsuccessful generals – Irvin McDowell, George B. McClellan, Ambrose E. Burnside – who lost their commands as a result. The artist implies that in the future others might suffer a similar fate unless Lincoln awakes from his nightmare and realizes his dream of “a good time coming.” Frank Leslies Illustrated Newspaper, February 14, 1963.

DOCTOR LINCOLN'S NEW ELIXIR OF LIFE - FOR THE SOUTHERN STATES

New York Illustrated News, April 12, 1862.

This cartoon is a powerful reminder of what emancipation would mean for the slave, and of the urgency with which many northerners advocated it. It is especially interesting in that it was published before the Emancipation Proclamation, at a time when it was uncertain whether there would ever be such a proclamation. However, Congress passed a series of weak and poorly enforced Confiscation Acts in 1861 and 1862, and local area commanders sometimes proclaimed emancipation, although these were generally repudiated by the government. But the issue was ever alive and being pushed by supporters such as this cartoonist. New York Illustrated News, April 12, 1862.

HOW TO ESCAPE THE DRAFT

Harpers Weekly, August 1, 1863

There was considerable objection to the 1863 Union draft law, but nowhere more than in New York City. Here rioters attacked blacks in the streets of the city and killed many. The most extreme opponents were Irish, many of whom disliked blacks because they feared job competition from free blacks. Rioting was so serious that some soldiers who had fought at Gettysburg the month before had to be brought into the city to restore order. There was also resistance to the draft in the Confederacy, but not nearly so extreme. Harpers Weekly, August 1, 1863.

"THE SLAVE OWNER'S SPECTRE...

Harpers Weekly, May 30, 1863.

THE SLAVE OWNER'S SPECTRE...

"And the Nigger never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On that horrid bust of HORACE just above my chamber-door;

And his lips, they have the snigger,, of a worthless freeborn Nigger,

and he swells his somer figger, when I ask him, with a roar,

"Will you blacks again be Cattle, as you used to be before?"

Cries the Chattel, "Never more!"" - Harpers Weekly, May 30, 1863.

This anti-slavery cartoon was published after the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863. Using the rhythm of Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem, “The Raven,” the artist pictures a black man with the bust of Horace Greely, a New York newspaper editor who had been a strong advocate of emancipation. The black raven crows his determination that he will never again be a slave. The slave owner, frightened, holds a knife to his Bible. One suspects that the smoke coming from the lamp chimney is intended to represent opium. Harpers Weekly, May 30, 1863.

WAIT A LITTLE LONGER (ONLY A LITTLE LONGER)

New York Illustrated News, June 25, 1864

Struggling in the light of the rising sun of Constitutional Liberty, the slave has broken free of the pillar of the church, the Democratic Party of 1860, and state rights, and the chains of local institutions (a term often used to denote slavery), and the Supreme Court (referring to the Dred Scott decision). Still bound by chains bearing the names of the slave states, he reaches for the branch of emancipation on the tree of liberty. Although the Emancipation Proclamation was issued eighteen months earlier, the slave must still “wait a little longer.” Perhaps because the slave population of Delaware was very small, there appears to be no chain link bearing the name of that slave state. Despite the rather poor lithography, the cartoon carries a strong message. New York Illustrated News, June 25, 1864.

DEDICATED TO THE CHICAGO CONVENTION

Harpers Weekly, September 3, 1864

This early Thomas Nast cartoon is a strong statement against the Democratic Party and its sympathizers in the 1864 presidential election. A significant segment of Democrats, called Copperheads, opposed Lincoln’s war measures. Some even proposed ending the war on the basis of a compromise that would have resulted in Confederate independence. Nast’s cartoons could be very complex, and one cannot explain all the symbolism here. However, note the American flag flown upside down as a symbol of distress, the Confederate soldier strong, healthy and carrying a whip, the Union soldier maimed, the sword (“northern power”) broken, and all this dedicated to the “UNION HEROES WHO FELL IN A USELESS WAR” if the Democrats won the election. (However, the Democratic nominee, George C. McClellan, renounced the party’s platform). With great sarcasm, Nast dedicated this cartoon to the Democratic convention, which was held in Chicago. Harpers Weekly, September 3, 1864.