"The Rough is Ready: Voting Power in the South"
By Chris Fesmire
Congress attempted to assert its power, famously through the 13th and 14th amendment, in order to secure the goals of Reconstruction and give former slaves the full rights of citizenship. These rights ideally included the ability to hold office, own land, and vote. However, the post war south Democrats did not accept these congressional laws openly. Individual states and communities put into practice laws and terror tactics meant to keep the free blacks suppressed and under their influence. One of the most recorded acts of oppression came through the election system, where democratic whites would use intimidation to convince republican black to vote on the democratic side, if they were even allowed to vote at all. Often the ballets were burned, or blacks were refused by illogical laws or forcible practices from voting. Northerners knew this practice took place, but found it impossible to stop on a wide scale. The cartoon in the November 22nd 1879 edition of Harper’s Weekly illustrates the fears held by northerners.
In the cartoon, a wall is illustrated as having North and South written on adjacent sides. The southern side indicates some of the brutal practices taken against the right to vote, including “Shoot suffrage to death” and “free shooting on election day”. “Free shooting” shows the moral ease in which southerners are committing the crimes against blacks and whites who do not submit to their whim. The northern side includes a news post stating that two blacks were fired upon trying to vote, and a warning about the KKK. The physical closest of these two opposing messages in the cartoon shows the fine line that is separating the greater freedom in northern voting to the southern voting violence, and indicates how fragile the difference has become.
The man in the cartoon is a southerner, who has crossed the line into the North to influence the northern vote through violence, just as he has in the South. The “northern shot” written on his ammo belt is a symbol of his planned aggression and violence. His shadow being reflected on the southern side of the wall is an indication that he has southern roots. He overlooks a voting poll, glaring ominously at the northerners who are placing there ballets. The orderly line of votes is shadowed by an American flag and bank, public school, and church. These four elements enforce the civilized and righteousness of the North, which the Southerners is attempting to disrupt.
The caption at the bottom of the cartoon indicates that if left to their own measures, the south will infiltrate the North and use its violent methods to influence the voting and election outcomes. The cartoon attempts to play on the appeal to northern freedom logic, and cause awareness of a threat that those in the North are not personally experiencing, yet.. which is the Southern Democrat who will regain power any way he sees possible.
Bibliography:
Harpers Weekly, November 22nd 1879. “The Rough is Ready” cartoon.http://app.harpweek.com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/viewarticletext.asp?webhitsfile=hw18791122000008%2Ehtm&xpath=%2FTEI%2E2%5B1%5D%2Ftext%5B1%5D%2Fbody%5B1%5D%2Fdiv1%5B20%5D%2Fp%5B2%5D%2Ffigure%5B1%5D&xml=HW%5C1879%5C18791122%2Exml&titleid=HW&volumeid=1879&issueid=1122&pagerange=0925ad-0925ad&restriction=violence+&pageIds=%7CHW-1879-11-22-0925%7C