The Glass Ballot Box Analysis

I have chosen Thomas Nast’s March 16, 1867 cartoon picture, “The Georgetown Election—The Negro at the Ballot Box,” as my primary source. The cartoon’s setting is Georgetown and people are in line to vote for Andrew Jackson as a president. And it features an African-American man standing in line to vote and two white men glaring at them. The African-American man is dressed up in low class clothes. He took off his hat when he puts his vote in the glass ballot box. A white man lined up behind the African-American man is dressed up in nice hat, coat, and shoes. He looked seemed to belong in a high class. Among those two men, man on the right side represents Andrew Johnson holding up to a rolled up newspaper that is written, ‘Suffrage Veto.’ He dressed up in a nice clothes also. And the other man with tangled hair is wearing a cowboy hat that is written, ‘Ex. CSA.’ He dressed up as Southern style clothes. On the right side of the African-American man, there is two glass ballot boxes. The glass ballot box on the left is the one that the African-American man placing his vote at. And beneath the glass ballot box on the right says it is for the white men. This cartoon picture is telling the scene after 15th Amendment has passed. Additional, it is posted up on Harper’s Weekly …show more content…
He was best known for scathing caricatures and political cartoons, which many of people often referred him as, “Our Special Artist” Therefore, this cartoon, The Georgetown Election—The Negro At The Ballot Box, reflected major political issues on African-American vote and competitive election during the reconstruction. This kind of political cartoon is still used today. Some cartoons are meant to show issues and some others are meant to humor, joke, or belittle the issues. Overall, political cartoons are picture news that we can find what is going on now a day without reading some