JEFF DAVIS SNUFFING OUT THE LIGHT.
An illustration of Jefferson Davis standing on a bale of cotton while reaching towards the sun with a candle snuffer. The parallel between light and democracy or union was a common theme in cartoons of the time. Here the sun similarly represents the Union while Davis represents the South who is being portrayed as being supported by cotton and in extension slavery. (Harper's Weekly 1861)
A depiction of Jefferson Davis trying to take Virginia and Maryland from the American Eagle’s Nest. The rock of her nest is labeled “E Pluribus Unum” or “Out of many one”, which is the motto of the United States. Davis is being held with a string harness by two figures that appear to be Alexander Stephens (left), the Vice President of the CSA and Judah Benjamin (right), the Secretary of War of the CSA. Published in July 1861, a movement towards secession had begun in Maryland in the spring of 1861. The Baltimore riot of 1861 occurred on April 19 when Confederate sympathizers clashed with Union soldiers moving through the city. Following this occurrence and the dangerous sentiments fomenting in Maryland that it represented, Lincoln placed much of the state under martial law. As illustrated here, Davis and the South had failed to “snatch” Maryland from the nest of Union. (Harper's Weekly 1861)
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