“Father of the American Cartoon,” Thomas Nast was born in a military barracks in Landu, Bavaria. His father, a trombonist in the Bavarian military, quit the army because of his opposition to the government’s failure to make much needed reforms. The family immigrated to New York in 1864. Nast’s drawing skills were recognized early in his life, and in New York he studied with artists Alfred Fredericks and Theodore Kaufmann before attending the National Academy of Design. Harper’s Weekly hired him in 1859 to illustrate a report exposing police corruption. He was eighteen. He switched employers in 1860 with an assignment from the New York Illustrated News to go to England to cover the prize fight between the American John Heenan and the Englishman Thomas Sayers. From England he joined Garibaldi in his military campaign to unify Italy. Nast’s illustrations from Italy captured American readers’ attention. In 1862 he began his long career as an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly, a career he enjoyed until 1886.
A strong supporter of abolition, Nast intended his illustrations to persuade readers to support the Union and end slavery. The Civil War started in April of 1861, and Nast’s illustrations vividly depicted the horrors of slavery. His drawings also chronicled Quantrill’s raiders and several battles of the Civil War. When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, Nast’s “Emancipation,” appeared three weeks later a double page spread in the January 24, issue of Harper’s Weekly. The cut line beneath the image reads: “THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION OF THE NEGROES, January 1863 – THE PAST AND THE FUTURE, Drawn by Mr. Thomas Nast.” Abraham Lincoln once called Nast “our best recruiting sergeant.”
In the center circle of the illustration, an African American family enjoys their freedom. The multigenerational family is gathered in the kitchen around a stove clearly marked with the brand name UNION. The mother cooks at the stove and the father smiles as he bounces his young daughter on his knee. His second daughter nuzzles close to him in a big comfortable chair. Their son smiles at the scene as he leans over the chair. He has been reading a book. The grandmother sits next to the father and leans down to watch this family moment. Behind grandmother’s chair a young couple stands, clearly in love, looking at each other and imagining their future. On the mantle is a small portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and hanging on the wall is a banjo, a symbol of the American negro. In this central circle Nast depicts an image of home the future.
Above the circle, and symbolically placed, is Thomas Crawford’s statue of “Freedom” (1862) that had stood and is still at the top of the United States Capitol dome. In the small circle at the bottom center, Father Time holds a baby with the date1863 above his head. In front of them a slave kneels in prayer. Two small drawings on either side of this image depict at the left a slave being beaten and at the right a field manager riding a horse and raising his hat greetings the workers.
At the left side the past is depicted with various images of slavery. At the top the female figure of Liberty struggles to hold back the leashed three-headed hellhound Cerberus that is chasing slaves through the swamp. At the center left a slave auction represents the separation of families. At the lower left a female slave is viciously beaten while others are chained nearby. This group includes a young boy and a slave being branded. In the distance a white man in coat and top hat looks on, calmly smoking a pipe.
At the right side the future is depicted. At the top the figure of Justice with her scales and olive branch of peace stands in front of soldiers who are celebrating the Union victory. At the center a freed mother stands at the door of the family cottage and sends her children happily off to the nearby school. The American flag waves above the roof of the school and the steeple of a church can be seen nearby trees. At the bottom a cashier gives workers their rightful wages.
As the American Civil War continued, the Presidential election of 1864 was imminent. The Democrats and their nominee McClelland were for compromising with the South and allowing slavery to continue. Their campaign slogan was “Compromise with the South,” the title of Nast’s entry on September 3, 1864. The cut line at the bottom read “Dedicated to the Chicago Convention.” Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, stands tall with one foot purposely places on the grave of a Union soldier. The inscription on the tombstone reads “In MEMORY of the Union Heroes who died in a Useless War.” Davis reaches out to shake hands with a bowed and disabled Union soldier. The figure of Liberty, or Columbia, kneels by the grave and cries. At the upper right a Confederate flag flies and at the upper left an American flag flies, but it is upside down. Compromise with the South was considered by Lincoln and the Republicans to be a betrayal of African Americans and to the soldiers who fought and died to preserve the Union. Fortunately, the Union began to win battles, and two months later Lincoln won the election. At the time Nast’s many illustrations supporting the Union considered to be a significant factor in Lincoln’s reelection.
The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865. General Ulysses Grant commented that Thomas Nast “Did as much as any one man to preserve the Union and bring the war to an end.” The War had only nominally ended and Nast continued his work to see justice done. In the August 5, issue of Harper’s Weekly, “Shall I trust these men, and not this man,” supports voting rights. The double page illustration depicts Columbia, the female symbol of the United States. At the left side is the word Pardon. Confederate soldiers, including Robert E. Lee at the front, Vice-President Stephens, Congressman Toombs, Admiral Semmes, and Generals Ewell and Hood are on their knees begging for pardons. Pardons would also restore their citizenship and therefore their right to vote. At the right side is the word Franchise. Columbia points to an African American veteran who has lost a leg, and she asks, “Shall I trust these men and not this man” who fought to save the Union but has not been given the right to vote.
During Reconstruction, Nast continued to draw images depicting the promise of emancipation but that ignored justice for everyone. After the assassination of Lincoln, Vice-president Andrew Johnson (term 1862-1869) was left to organize and oversee Reconstruction. The War was declared over, but attacks on African Americans did not stop. Nast’s “Reconstruction and how it works” (September 1, 1866), and his many other illustrations of Johnson, depict him as a danger to the United States and to African Americans. His illustrations continued to show his increasing frustration and disappointment with the government’s disgraceful management of Reconstruction.
At that time Nast introduced a new element to his work. President Johnson and other recognizable figures begin to become caricatures. Nast introduced a character from Shakespeare’s plays to create parallels. President Johnson is Iago who betrays his friend Othello, depicted as an African American Union army veteran. The text placed under Iago and Othello reads, “Othello. Dost thou mock me! Iago. I mock you? No. By heaven: Would you would bear your fortunes like a man.” Behind Iago and Othello is a split scene of slaves being killed and a bulletin board containing mixed messages.
The text surrounding circle reads: “Andrew Johnson’s reconstruction and how it works,” and in small text Memphis and New Orleans. The top left image depicts the event when a mob killed African Americans in Memphis, and the image on the right depicts another massacre that occurred in New Orleans. The small image above the circle depicts a slave auction and a beating with the words “What they were” placed underneath. Beneath the center circle the caption “and How it Works,” depicts Johnson as a snake charmer with a rolled-up Constitution as his pipe. On the ground in front of him and his followers, an African American is attacked by snakes named Copperheads, a term used against Democrats that opposed the Civil War and wanted peace with the South. The Copperhead snakes will squeeze the African American to death.
Thomas Nast continued to cover politics after the Civil War and Reconstruction. He supported African American, American Indian and Chinese American causes. He opposed racial segregation, the Ku Klux Klan, and the corruption of Tammany Hall, to name a few. He also created America’s iconic image of Santa Claus, and introduced the elephant as the symbol of Lincoln’s Republican Party. Thomas Nast did not pull punches. His art was popular, significant, and influential.
Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown six years ago, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and Chesapeake College’s Institute for Adult Learning. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.
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