Description

John Bull kneeling to a crowned and sceptered cotton bale. John Bull is kneeling on the back of a slave. John Bull has a long slip of paper labeled Manchester\ sticking out of his left jacket pocket. Manchester was the center of the British textile industry during the Civil War and it was strongly pro-confederate. The caption below reads, King Cotton: Ha! I thought I'd fetch ye. Let me see: establish direct taxation, ruin home manufactures and destroy our commerce? All right-I'll do it; but mind ye, I must insist on the African slave trade. John Bull: Great potentate, that's no affair of ours; manage it as you like, only sell us plenty of the staple, and break down the tarrif. The image is a reference to James Henry Hammond's use of the phrase \Cotton is king\ in his speech arguing for the admission of Kansas as a slave state under the Lecompton Constitution in 1858. Congress rejected Kansas' admission under the Lecompton Constitution, but the phrase remained in popular use through the Civil War time period.\Illustrated Civil War envelopes with patriotic symbols, slogans and cartoons, mostly Northern, including a few Southern ones.

Record Contributed By

Georgetown University Library

Record Harvested From

District Digital