“The Union as It Was,” 1874 | State Historical Society of Iowa

In his 1874 cartoon titled “The Union as It Was,” Thomas Nast depicts a member of the Ku Klux Klan and a member of the White League shaking hands atop a skull and crossbones that rests above an African-American woman and man huddled over their dead child as a school house burns and an African-American is lynched in the background.

Courtesy of Library of Congress, Nast, Thomas, "The Union as it was, The lost cause, worse than slavery," 1874

Description

In his 1874 cartoon titled, "The Union as It Was," Thomas Nast depicts a member of the Ku Klux Klan and a member of the White League shaking hands atop a skull and crossbones that rests above an African-American woman and man huddled over their dead child as a school house burns and an African American is lynched in the background.

Transcript of "The Union as It Was" Political Cartoon

Source-Dependent Questions

By 1874, three amendments had been added to the U.S. Constitution and Congress had passed numerous Reconstruction and civil rights acts for the benefit of former slaves. Use evidence from the cartoon to explain the artist’s evaluation of those laws.
Using your knowledge of Reconstruction and the evidence contained within this primary source and others you have interpreted, do you agree with the artist that life during Reconstruction is worse than slavery for African Americans in the South?

Citation Information

Nast, Thomas, "The Union as it was, The lost cause, worse than slavery," 1874. Courtesy of Library of Congress