Cartoon satirizing the National Union Convention, which met in Philadelphia in August of 1866, in an attempt to support President Andrew Johnson and his Reconstruction policies and elect a new Congress. Muzzled dogs, each representing a state, walk down a path towards a dog house labeled, “Wigwam,” which was the name of the structure in Philadelphia that was quickly erected for the convention. Outside the house, two guard dogs, representing Johnson supporters Edgar Cowen and James Rood Doolittle, each hold cats in their mouths, representing the two notorious Peace Democrats, or Copperheads, Clement Vallandigham and Fernando Wood, who were barred from the convention. At the head of the parade, the Massachusetts and South Carolina dogs march together, representing General Darius Nash Couch and Governor James Lawrence Oliver, the representatives from those states, respectively. These two men entered the Convention arm-in-arm to demonstrate the possibility for national reconciliation. The South Carolina dog, however, also has its genitals muzzled, as it was the first state to secede from the Union at the beginning of the war. In the left is a small, muzzled dog with a brush and bucket, labeled “N.Y. Times,” tied to its tail that represents Henry Raymond, co-founder of the New York Times and pro-Johnson Republican Congressman. Raymond organized the convention and was removed from his position as Chairman of the Republican National Committee because of it. In the left background, shows the White House with a Confederate flag, with “My Policy,” flying and a dead dog lying on the ground representing Johnson. Radical and moderate Republicans in Congress believed that his treatment of the Southern states under his Reconstruction plan was too lenient., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited.
Date
[1866]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | PRINT political cartoons - 1866-11 [5760.F.113]
