The Slavery Debate as a Distraction
Many political cartoons framed the debate about slavery as a distraction from “more important” issues. There was concern and fear that while the Union and Confederacy fought over whether slavery should exist, other countries would take advantage of their vulnerable state. America would lose the global power that it had been building and would continue to build.
The political cartoon below provides an example.
Caricatures
Political cartoons depicted Black people with racist caricatures. Caricatures included comparisons to animals (sometimes on leashes), portrayals as cannibals, and language. The “n” word was also commonly used.
The cartoon below is an example.
Even though the North is associated with a lack of racism, the Union was still very much fearful that victory against the Confederacy would lead non-white people to claim citizenship and belonging.
This cartoon expresses this fear and portrays Black people as both friendly with the immoral Southerners and cannibals.
The Black person, decidedly “King of the Cannibal Isles” is depicted with overtly racist caricatures. The dialogue further dehumanizes the figure.1
Citation: “An Equivocal Compliment,” Yankee Notions, November 1861, 843
- Sillin, Sarah. “Laughing at “Young Bull”: American Authority in Civil War Cartoons.” J19, vol. 8, no. 2, 2020, pp. 267-0_5,381. ProQuest, http://ezpro.cc.gettysburg.edu:2048/login. [↩]
