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Title: John Bull makes a discovery
Description: Racist cartoon reflecting the Northern fear that Britain's economic ties with Southern cotton growers would cause the British government to relinquish its abolitionist stance in order to support the Confederacy. Depicts a plump John Bull, representing Great Britain, centered between a kneeling enslaved African American man and a bale of cotton in a storage shed. Bull touches the hair of the African American man with his right hand and holds a piece of the cotton from the bale in the other. He declares, "it is certain that Cotton is more useful to me than Wool!!" In the left background, two African American men stand and cry. In the right background, a Southern white man plantation owner looks on and smiles., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Possible publisher supplied by Murrell., McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., RVCDC, 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.
Creator: Currier & Ives
Date: [1861]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1861-40R [5780.Fa]

Title: Senate chamber U.S.A. Conclusion of Clay's speech in defense of slavery
Description: Cartoon satirizing an 1839 anti-abolition speech by the congressional orator Henry Clay focusing on his conflicting views on the abolition of slavery. Clay, despite deploring the institution of slavery, was an enslaver who was against immediate national abolition. Depicts Clay, in front of the Mason-Dixon line, coming to an agreement with John Calhoun, his chief congressional rival and leading senatorial supporter of slavery, about the issue of slavery. They both stand on past abolitionist resolutions and a prostrate enslaved African American man who quotes a verse from the Bible's book of Micah 7:8 that he will "arise." Clay's remarks "North" of the line reflect his abolitionist rhetoric; those "South" of the line refer to him being an enslaver. Calhoun states his pleasure in Clay's awakening to the societal benefits of slavery., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Accessioned 1979., RVCDC, 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Date: [1839]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1839-24w [P.2275.18]

Title: The Clay compromise - a settler
Description: Racist cartoon satirizing the Clay Compromise of 1850 concerning the extension of slavery to the territories. Depicts a prostrate enslaved African American man, portrayed in racist caricature, who is being pulled by ropes from each end by a Northerner and Southerner. The Northerner states, "We are content with the Compromise," and the Southerner states, "An equal division is fair." Standing over the enslaved man is Henry Clay, who is poised with a sword to cut him in two. William Lloyd Garrison rushes to stop Clay, stating "let the Union go; but spare the man!" A Quaker man confers with a minister about the compromise, saying "Well I'm very glad that Friend Clay has interfered." The minister responds that he hopes the question is settled because his parishioners have been quarreling so long that they almost forgot to pay him. A white man overseer about to whip a group of enslaved men, attired in yellow sarongs, exclaims, "Damn the niggers! Their hides are so used to the whip that they mind it no more than a horse.", Title from item., Date inferred from content., RVCDC, Purchase 1991., 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.
Date: [1850]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1850 - Cla [P.9314.3]

Title: The disappointed abolitionists
Description: Anti-abolition print distortedly portraying the events of the New York freedom seeker episode, "The Darg Case." The case involved a freedom seeker of enslaver John Darg who stole $7000 from him, fled, and was harbored and assisted by African American abolitionist and writer David Ruggle, Quaker arbitrator Barney Corse, and Quaker abolitionist Isaac T. Hopper. Corse had arbitrated a deal with Darg that in exchange for the return of Darg's stolen money, the enslaved man's freedom would be granted, and a small stipend would be paid to Corse. The arbitration was discovered and annulled by the New York police who then arrested Ruggles and Corse. Depicts Darg's sitting room where Hopper is requesting a reward. Ruggles says, "I don't like the looks of this affair. I'm afraid my pickings will not amount to much!" Corse replies, "Yea verily I was but thy instrument Brother Hopper as Brother Ruggles here knoweth!" They are threatened by Darg with a chair to whom they have returned "$6908" of his stolen money, and who bitterly exclaims that they deserve prison., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entd accordd to Act of Congress in the year 1838 by H.R. Robinson, in the Clerk's office of the Distt Court of the U. States, for the southern District of New York., Purchase 1968., RVCDC, 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 the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Clay, born in Philadelphia, was a prominent caricaturist, lithographer, and engraver who created the "Life in Philadelphia" series which satirized middle-class African American Philadelphians in the late 1820s and early 1830s.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date: 1838
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1838-40W [7779.F]

Title: Practical illustration of the fugitive slave law
Description: Antislavery print depicting a fight between Northern abolitionists and supporters of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. In the left, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and an African American man both raise guns to protect an enslaved African American woman who is attired in a head kerchief, earrings, a short-sleeved dress, and shoes. She raises both arms in the air and clutches a handkerchief in her right hand and exclaims “Oh Massa Garrison protect me!!!” Garrison wraps his right arm around her and says, “Don’t be alarmed, Susanna, you’re safe enough.” In the right, the white man mercenary, attired in a top hat with a star on it, who may represent the federal marshals or commissioners authorized by the act (and paid) to apprehend freedom seekers, carries a noose and shackles. He sits astride Secretary of State Daniel Webster, who is on his hands and knees clutching the Constitution and bemoaning, "This, though constitutional, is extremely disagreeable." Behind them a white man, possibly John C. Calhoun, declares "We will give these fellows a touch of Old South Carolina" and carries two volumes labeled "Law and Gospel." Another white man carries a quill and ledger and says "I goes in for Law & Order." In the background, a number of men on both sides fight. A white man lies on the ground on his back. An African American man grabs a white man enslaver by the head and holds a whip while saying “It’s my turn now Old Slave Driver.” A "Temple of Liberty" stands in the background with two flags flying which read, "A day, an hour, of virtuous Liberty is worth an age of Servitude," and "All men are created free and equal.", Title from item., Probable place and date of publication supplied by Reilly., Weitenkampf attributed this cartoon to the New York artist Edward Williams Clay, but Reilly refutes this attribution on the grounds that the draftsmanship, signature, and political opinions are atypical of Clay., 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., RVCDC, 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.
Date: [1850 or 1851]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1851-6 [5760.F.104]

Title: The Democratic platform
Description: Cartoon satirizing politicians' support of James Buchanan and the Democratic platform of 1856. Depicts Buchanan as "the platform" of his party prostrate across the backs of the kneeling antislavery advocate Senator Thomas Benton ("Old Bullion"), President Franklin Pierce ("Franklin the last"), and son of Martin Van Buren, John Van Buren ("Prince John"). An enslaved African American man, portrayed in racist caricature, sits atop Buchanan’s legs with his arms crossed. Sitting opposite him atop Buchanan’s chest is a white man enslaver, armed with a whip, knives, and a pistol, who declares, “I don’t care anything about the Supporters of the platform as long as the platform supports me and my Nigger.” Underneath Buchanan, Benton replies to Pierce's question of how he can be against his administration yet for "this platform" by stating that he supports Buchanan because his motto is "Men - not principles." (This is a reversal of the Democratic motto: "Principles, not men.") Simultaneously, Van Buren talks with his father "Martin the first," depicted as a fox in his "Kinderhook" burrow, about the changing policies of the great Democratic Party and the plunder to be had. Standing in the left, "Brother Jonathan" (predecessor of Uncle Sam) notes the unreliability of the "platform supporters.", Title from item., Date supplied by Weitenkampf., Purchase 1971., RVCDC, 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.
Date: [1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1856-16W [7996.F]

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