A puzzling caricature, probably dealing with Reconstruction under Andrew Johnson's administration. The work is quite crudely drawn. An acrobat, with mustache and sideburns and wearing a jester's cap, holds in each hand a mask, one grinning and one frowning. His legs stretch from the head of Pennsylvania congressman Thaddeus Stevens, who holds a paper labeled "Committee of 15" and is seated on a black man, who crawls on all fours, to the head of an unidentified man (probably Johnson) who holds the U.S. Constitution. The latter's back is turned to the viewer and several geese, some alive and some dead, appear at his feet. Stevens, an abolitionist, was one of the most prominent members of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, composed of fifteen members of Congress. The fool remarks, "As yet, I have found no difficulty in standing upon my own platform."|Entered according to Act of Congress June 8th 1866.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 153.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1866-3.

The National Union Convention met in Philadelphia in August 1866 to create a political party that would back President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction program and to elect a new Congress. Here, the convention is portrayed as a gathering of muzzled dogs, their collars inscribed with state names, who file toward a large doghouse, the "Wigwam." Except for the unwelcome arrival of Copperheads or Peace Democrats Fernando Wood and C. L. Vallandigham, the meeting was surprisingly harmonious even with the participation of representatives from both North and South. Here two dogs, "Massachusetts" and "South Carolina," side by side, lead the pack toward the Wigwam. Wood and Vallandigham are portrayed as cats, each held by the scruff of its neck by guard dogs Edgar Cowan and J. R. Doolittle. At bottom left stands a dog with a brush and a pail marked "N.Y. Times" tied to its tail. In the background "The Dead Dog of The White House," incumbent Andrew Johnson, lies in the road in front of the presidential mansion, which flies from its roof an American flag labeled "My Policy." "My Policy" was Johnson's campaign catchword. The Philadelphia movement ultimately failed, and anti-Johnson Republicans achieved more than a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress. |Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 154.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1866-4.

Another venomous attack on the Lincoln administration by the artist of "The Commander-in-Chief Conciliating the Soldier's Votes, no. 1864-31," and "The Sportsman Upset by the Recoil of His Own Gun," (no. 1864-32). Here Lincoln and his cabinet are shown in a disorderly backstage set, preparing for a production of Shakespeare's "Othello." Lincoln (center) in blackface plays the title role. He recites, "O, that the slave had forty thousand lives! I am not valiant neither:--But why should honour outlive honesty? Let it go all." Behind Lincoln two men, one with his leg over a chair, comment on Lincoln's reading. "Not quite appropriately costumed, is he?" comments the first. The second replies, "Costumed, my dear Sir? Never was such enthusiasm for art:--Blacked himself all over to play the part, Sir!" These may be Republicans Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens. Before them is a wastebasket of discarded documents, including the Constitution, Crittenden Compromise, Monroe Doctrine, "Webster's Speeches," "Decisions of Supreme Court," and "Douglass." At left five ballerinas stand beneath a playbill advertising "Treasury Department, A New Way to Pay Old Debts . . . Raising the Wind . . . Ballet Divertissement." Near their feet is a pile of silver and plate, "Properties of the White House." They listen to a fiddler who, with his back turned to the viewer, stands lecturing before them. At right Secretary of War Edwin Mcm.asters Stanton instructs a small troop of Union soldiers waiting in the wings to ". . . remember, you're to go on in the procession in the first Act and afterwards in the Farce of the Election." One soldier protests, "Now, see here, Boss that isn't fair. We were engaged to do the leading business." Nearby an obviously inebriated Secretary of State William Seward sits at a table with a bottle, muttering, "Sh--shomethin's matt'r er my little bell: The darned thing won't ring anyway cĚ_Ąonfixit'." Seward reportedly once boasted that he could have any individual arrested merely by ringing a bell. He was widely criticized for his arbitrary imprisonment of numerous civilians during the war. On the floor near Seward sits Lincoln's running mate Andrew Johnson, a straw dummy, with a label around his ankle, "To be left till called for." At far right Navy Secretary Gideon Welles slumbers, holding a paper marked "Naval Engagement, Sleeping Beauty, All's Well That Ends Well." In the background abolitionist editor Horace Greeley bumbles about moving scenery and complaining, "O bother! I can't manage these cussed things." Union general Benjamin F. Butler (directly behind Lincoln), dressed as Falstaff, recites, "We that take purses, go by the moon and seven stars; and not by Phoebus! I would to God, thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought!" He holds a sign "Benefit . . . Falstaff . . . Beauty and the Beast." By this time Butler had achieved notoriety as a dissolute plunderer. To Butler's right a man (who might be the stage manager) orders the crew, "Get ready to shift there 'ere Flats for the Temple of Liberty." The artist of this and nos. 1864-30 and -31 was an exceptionally able draftsman. Judging from the acidity of these satires, he may have been a Southerner, perhaps a Baltimorean. The only satires of the time that compare in artistic quality and political venom are those of Adalbert Volck.|Signed with monogram: CAL?|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 141.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1864-32.

This course explores the causes, course, and consequences of the American Civil War, from the 1840s to 1877. The primary goal of the course is to understand the multiple meanings of a transforming event in American history. Those meanings may be defined in many ways: national, sectional, racial, constitutional, individual, social, intellectual, or moral. Four broad themes are closely examined: the crisis of union and disunion in an expanding republic; slavery, race, and emancipation as national problem, personal experience, and social process; the experience of modern, total war for individuals and society; and the political and social challenges of Reconstruction.

One in a series of racist posters attacking Radical Republicans on the issue of black suffrage, issued during the Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1866. (See also "The Constitutional Amendment!," no. 1866-5.) The series advocates the election of Hiester Clymer, who ran for governor on a white-supremacy platform, supporting President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies. In this poster a black man lounges idly in the foreground as one white man ploughs his field and another chops wood. Accompanying labels are: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread," and "The white man must work to keep his children and pay his taxes." The black man wonders, "Whar is de use for me to work as long as dey make dese appropriations." Above in a cloud is an image of the "Freedman's Bureau! Negro Estimate of Freedom!" The bureau is pictured as a large domed building resembling the U.S. Capitol and is inscribed "Freedom and No Work." Its columns and walls are labeled, "Candy," "Rum, Gin, Whiskey," "Sugar Plums," "Indolence," "White Women," "Apathy," "White Sugar," "Idleness," "Fish Balls," "Clams," "Stews," and "Pies." At right is a table giving figures for the funds appropriated by Congress to support the bureau and information on the inequity of the bounties received by black and white veterans of the Civil War. |Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1866-6.

The contest for the presidency in 1864 is depicted as a game of bagatelle (a game similar to pool) between Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln and Democrat George B. McClellan. Lincoln (left) holds a cue "Baltimore" (the site of the Republican national convention) and is about to shoot a ball on "The Union Board." He says to running mate Andrew Johnson (upper right), "I'll do the best I can Andy, I can do no more." Johnson encourages him, "Hurrah for our side, go ahead Old Abe! O aint he bully on the bagatelle? you're only got a few more to make, It's A Sure Thing!!" Johnson points to the scoreboard which reads "Nix" for the "Copper" (i.e., Copperheads or Peace Democrats). The Union side of the board is blank. At left McClellan, dressed as a child, holds a cue "Chicago" (site of the Democratic national convention) and stands on a toppling "Chicago Platform," which appears to have been given a nudge by Lincoln's foot. A "Peace" plank has fallen from it. (McClellan was never entirely committed to the "peace at any price" principle advocated by Copperhead leader Clement L. Vallandigham.) McClellan complains, "This Cue 'is too heavy! and the' Platform's 'shakey!! O! O! I want to go back in the yard!!" His running mate George H. Pendleton (far left) retorts impatiently, "O see here. We cant stand this! Old Abe's getting in all the pots on the board, this game will have to be played over again or there'l be a fight, THAT'S CERTAIN." At the far right Vallandigham sits with crossed legs, saying to McClellan, "There is nothing the matter with the Cue or the Platform, you had the first red and didn't make anything, now he'll win the game." Union general Ulysses S. Grant smokes a pipe and stands near the middle of the table. He advises McClellan, " . . . you travel too near the ground to play on this board, better surrender UNCONDITIONALLY." A grinning black waiter with a tray of drinks watches Pendleton and McClellan. In the foreground are a cat named "Miss Cegenation" (i.e., miscegenation) and a black dog, tied together at the tails by a string attached to a kettle. They chase two rats, "Old Lea" and "Wood," across a paper holding "Caces Sugar Plumbs."|Published by J.L. Magee, South East cor. Third & Dock Sts. Philada.|Signed: J.L.M. (John L. Magee).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 145-146.|Wilson, p. 272-273.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1864-16.

StoryWorks Theater’s Teaching the Constitution Through Theater develops inclusive and transformative educational theater experiences that provides students with the opportunity to examine our history and to foster a deeper understanding of the U.S. Constitution. Through content consistent with school curriculum standards, the program engages students in experiential learning and inspires them to ask complex questions about the historical underpinnings behind contemporary issues. The process creates pathways to civic engagement, creates lasting memories and instills a tangible sense of social belonging. Now’s The Time opens at the dawn of Reconstruction, the Civil War has just ended but the nation is plunged again into crisis with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Andrew Johnson ascends to the Presidency determined to restore white supremacy in the South. Congressional radicals led by Thaddeus Stevens are fighting for a different vision. They intend to create a new society of full racial equality, where Black Americans will have real economic and political power, including ownership of land confiscated from the rebels, education, suffrage and election to public office. This titanic political battle between President and Congress culminates in the first impeachment and trial of a U.S. president, and to more than 150 years of continuing violence and discrimination against Black Americans.View the complete play Now’s The Time on the StoryWorks Theater site. Implementation1. Now’s The Time Performance Classroom watches a prerecorded, staged reading of the play Now’s The Time, written by Jean P. Bordewich and Produced by StoryWorks Theater.2. Lesson Plan Activities Following the six lesson plan structure, students will read aloud or act out scenes from the play. This participatory interaction with the text and the historical events promotes a high level of engagement from the students and encourages experiential learning. These activities directly correspond to scenes in the play and to specific content area standards. Throughout the curriculum, teachers will lead guided discussions and help to explain the historical context and theme of each scene. Students/actors will have the ability to share their experiences having portrayed these historical figures. Students/historians will have the unique opportunity to work with primary source materials to further their understanding of the complexities of the era and to gain insight into the critical legislative debates of the time.

Through the play Now's The Time and the accompanying curriculum, students will explore the Reconstruction Era through the life of Thaddeus Stevens and his colleagues as they sought to push for radical change in the making of a "new" America.

Through the play Now's The Time and the accompanying curriculum, students will explore the Reconstruction Era through the life of Thaddeus Stevens and his colleagues as they sought to push for radical change in the making of a "new" America.

Through the play Now's The Time and the accompanying curriculum, students will explore the Reconstruction Era through the life of Thaddeus Stevens and his colleagues as they sought to push for radical change in the making of a "new" America.

Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)

Cartoon print shows Vice President Andrew Johnson sitting atop a globe, attempting to stitch together the map of the United States with needle and thread. Abraham Lincoln stands, right, using a split rail to position the globe. Johnson warns, "Take it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closwer than ever." While Lincoln commends him, "A few more stitches Andy and the good old Union will be mended."|Signed in stone: J.E. Baker del.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)