Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of the Free Soiler
(Artist Unknown. Lithograph. 1856. Courtesy of the Library of Congress)
In this cartoon, a bearded "freesoiler" (anti-slavery settler) has been bound to the "Democratic Platform" and is restrained by two Lilliputian figures, presidential nominee James Buchanan and Democratic senator Lewis Cass. Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and President Franklin Pierce, also shown as tiny figures, force a black man into the settler's mouth as he screams "Murder!!! Help - neighbors help, O my poor Wife and Children."
On May 30, 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act
establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The
bill opened the area to both pro-slavery and anti-slavery
settlers and contained the provision that the question
of slavery should be left to the territorial settlers.
The bill caused a firestorm of debate and violence between
settlers in the disputed territories. For more information
on "Bleeding Kansas" see: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2952.html
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