Montage criticizing the Revenue Act of 1862, which allowed the first Federal use of revenue stamps. Shows an overlay of stamped correspondence containing a caricature of Abraham Lincoln as an elderly woman wearing a bonnet as the centerpiece. Also contains verse sarcastically comparing the divergent responses of the country to the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Revenue Act. The adhesive revenue stamps were be applied to nearly all Civil War-era documents and several proprietary articles, such as photographs and medicines., Originally part of McAllister scrapbook of materials related to Abraham Lincoln., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War.
Date
c1864
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - miscellaneous - Civil War - Brewerton - Caricatures and cartoons [5792.F.4i]
Series of eleven satiric pieces with verse by sketch artist George D. Brewerton critical of the revenue systems instituted during the Civil War, particularly paper money. Satires depict montages and layouts of banknotes, coinage, and revenue stamps to mock the Revenue Act of 1862, which instituted revenue stamps, the National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864, which promoted a national banking system; and the dubious value of Union and Confederate banknotes. Titles include The Almighty Dollar; A Chas[t]e Attempt; Modern Curiosities; A Public Nuisance; Our Bleeding Country's Infernal Revenue Stamps; The Southern Cross; Uncle Abe's Last Joke; and Very Hard Cash. Some montages also include portraits or caricatures of Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase., Includes one unmounted carte de viste., Originally part of McAllister scrapbooks of materials related to Abraham Lincoln and humorous caricatures and photographs., Created postfreeze., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War.
Creator
Brewerton, George Douglas, 1820-1901
Date
c1864
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv - miscellaneous - Civil War - Caricatures & cartoons - Brewerton [P.2282.47; 5780.F. 54a & c-e; 56q & s; 5792.F.1b; 4h & i; 5795.F.97g]