Nast, Thomas, artist. “This is a white man’s government” “We regard the Reconstruction Acts so called of Congress as usurpations, and unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void” - Democratic Platform / / Th. Nast. United States, 1868. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/98513794.
This political cartoon criticizes the reaction to the Reconstruction Acts through caricatures of three white men who appear to be forming an alliance that continues to oppress and commit violence against Black Americans. It is useful as an educational tool because it captures the stereotypes prevalent at the time and includes a wealth of visual and textual details for rhetorical analysis.
“Cartoon showing man with belt buckle ‘CSA’ holding a knife ‘the lost cause,’ a stereotyped Irishman holding club ‘a vote,’ and another man wearing a button ‘5 Avenue’ and holding wallet ‘capital for votes,’ with their feet on an African American soldier sprawled on the ground. In the background, a ‘colored orphan asylum’ and a ‘southern school’ are in flames; African American children have been lynched near the burning buildings.”
This political cartoon is a reaction to the Reconstruction Acts, which determined the process by which the Confederate states could be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War, including the requirement that states ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and grant citizenship to formerly enslaved people
- Observe the cartoon. What do you actually see? Include the obvious and avoid making inferences for now.
- What do you think each person represents? Which details helped you make that inference?
- What is the overall message this cartoon is trying to convey?
New York State Next Gen ELA Standards
11-12R1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly/implicitly and make logical inferences, including determining where the text is ambiguous; develop questions for deeper understanding and for further exploration. (RI&RL)
- Reading and analyzing political cartoons requires significant inference-making. Students may also need to ask questions about details that are clearly intentional but that they may lack background knowledge to recognize the significance of them.
11-12R6: Analyze how authors employ point of view, perspective, and purpose, to shape explicit and implicit messages (e.g., persuasiveness, aesthetic quality, satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement). (RI&RL)
- Political cartoons, including this one, often caricature their subjects, and students benefit from recognizing when the artist is intentionally using stereotypes to emphasize their message or inadvertently doing so as a byproduct of their time period.
- Students can use the Observe, Reflect, and Question Tool (Teacher Guide here)to analyze the visual rhetoric of the cartoon.
- Students can use political cartoons as seed texts for research projects of varying lengths. They might research and then write/present their findings about a detail they didn’t initially understand, the other side of the argument, or about the exigence of the piece as a whole.
- This political cartoon uses potentially offensive depictions of ethnic stereotypes, depicts violence, and intentionally critiques those who want a “white man’s government.”
- The true defenders of the Constitution / drawn by Mr. James Walker. This political cartoon, also published in Harper’s Weekly, deals with a similar time period. It depicts Union soldiers, both Black and white, who died in the Civil War, and labels them as the “true defenders of the Constitution.”
- A man knows a man “Give me your hand, comrade! We have each lost a leg for a good cause; but, thank God, we never lost heart.” This political cartoon depicts two soldiers, one Black and one white, who have both lost a leg and appear to be recognizing each other’s humanity.
- Read, Write, Think: Analyzing the purpose and meaning of political cartoons. This resource from Read, Write, Think contains a lesson plan for five to seven 45-minute lessons for building student capacity to analyze political cartoons
- Cartoons for the Classroom offers a daily modern political cartoon with lessons and modified versions of the cartoons so that students can come up with their own captions
- The Life, Times, and Legacy of Thomas Nast. This webpage contains useful information about Thomas Nast and his influence on political cartoons.