| Title |
A proslavery incantation scene or Shakespeare improved. [graphic]. |
| Publisher |
[United States] : [publisher note identified] |
| Publisher |
UNITED STATES. 1856 |
| Date |
[1856] |
| Physical Description |
1 print : lithograph ; sheet 32 x 39 cm (12.5 x 15.25 in.) |
| Description |
Antislavery print using an allegory of the cauldron scene from Macbeth to depict James Buchanan and the Democrats' contempt
for the freesoilers following the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Depicts Buchanan, Stephen Douglas, and several animated Democrats,
speaking in Shakespearian rhyme, gathered around a boiling cauldron labeled, "Double double, Free State trouble, Till Fremont
men are straw & stubble." In the foreground, a white man kneels and blows on the fire, with a pistol labeled "Laws of Kansas"
in his back pocket. The fire is fueled with anti-slavery literature, including "Beecher Sermons," "N.Y. Tribune," "Quincy’s
Letters," "N.Y. Post," and "Boston Atlas." Buchanan, standing on a platform, states he endorses the laws of Kansas now in
force and holds a paper labeled "Ostend Conference," (an attempt by the United States to negate an agreement with France and
Great Britain to not annex enslaved-holding Cuba), over the cauldron. Beside him Douglas, holding a whip and shackles, calls
for the blood of freemen and revels in the woe caused by his Kansas-Nebraska bill. Shackles, including one marked “Chattel
Stock,” also rest at his feet. Many of the Democrats gathered around the kettle are depicted as pro-slavery, white men Southerners
and refer favorably to Preston Brook's caning of Charles Sumner while others call out items to be thrown into the pot, such
as "fillet of a Free Soil Frog" and the "Ostend conference plot."
|
| Is referenced by |
Weitenkampf, p. 115 |
| Notes |
Title from item. |
|
Date of publication supplied by Weitenkampf. |
|
Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of
gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush.
|
|
Description revised 2021. |
|
Access points revised 2021. |
|
Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the
Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom
Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
|
| Subject |
Buchanan, James, 1791-1868 -- Caricatures and cartoons. |
|
Douglas, Stephen Arnold, 1813-1861 -- Caricatures and cartoons. |
|
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Macbeth. |
|
Democratic Party (U.S.) |
|
Free Soil Party (Kansas) |
|
United States. Kansas-Nebraska Act. |
|
Abolition movement -- United States -- 1850-1860. |
|
Book burning -- United States. |
|
Cauldrons. |
|
Slaveholders -- United States. |
|
Slavery -- United States -- Extension to the territories. |
|
Enslavers -- United States. |
| Genre |
Anti-slavery prints -- United States -- 1850-1860. |
|
Lithographs -- 1850-1860. |
|
Political cartoons -- 1850-1860. |
| Location |
Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Political Cartoons - 1856-5W [5760.F.91] |
| Accession number |
5760.F.91 |
