Political cartoons developed sophistication in the years after the Civil War largely through the talents of the influential artist Thomas Nast, whose compositions effectively captured a frustrated electorate’s disgust. In this image, Nast plays on then-common stereotypes and foregrounds the pervasive assumption northern and southern whites held about black political incompetence and corruption. Many white South Carolinians popularized these beliefs in their effort to redeem state government from the African American majority that controlled the legislature.

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS