This Political Cartoon, published in Harper's Weekly in October 1862, shortly after the Battle of Antietam, summarizes the idea behind the Emancipation Proclamation. In it an axe-wielding President Lincoln threatens to cut down the tree a Confederate Soldier is using as refuge. Labeled "Slavery," the tree/soldier relationship in the cartoon is meant to convey the idea that slavery in the south was supporting the Confederate war effort - note also the poor state the Southern soldier appears to be in, shoeless and ragged (one Maryland resident who observed the invading Confederate army described them as "scarecrows"). Lincoln sought to frame the Emancipation of slaves as a "fit and necessary war measure for suppressing [the] rebellion," arguing that ending slavery in the south would deprive the Confederate army of the Home Front labor support slaves provided, thus ending the war quicker. The comic is specifically about the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (issued at the end of Sept, 1862), which was a warning to the South that if they did not cease their rebellion before January 1, 1863, he would pass the formal Emancipation Proclamation - hence the title "Lincoln's Last Warning."
- Subject:
- History
- U.S. History
- Material Type:
- Primary Source
- Author:
- Harper's Weekly
- Date Added:
- 03/16/2018