MORAL CRISIS OF THE 1850s: USING VISUAL SOURCES

GILDER LEHRMAN SUMMER INSTITUTECOLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

July 12-18, 2009Dr. D. Schwartz

INTERPRETING POLITICAL CARTOONS

• Symbolism

• Exaggeration

• Labeling

• Analogy

• Irony

• Juxtaposition

How Political Cartoons Send a Message

• They tap into prior knowledge

• They use symbols

• They use exaggeration

• They use caricatures

• They use captions

• They use size of objects for emphasis

• They use humor

ANALYZING POLITICAL CARTOONS

• What issue is the cartoon addressing?• What is the cartoonist’s opinion on the issue?• What other opinion can you imagine another

person having on this issue?• Do you find the cartoon persuasive? Why?

Why not?• What other techniques could the cartoonist have

used to make this cartoon more persuasive?

The Hurly Burly Pot,” a cartoon about the issues threatening to divide the Union in the 1850s

INTERPRETING PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE

• What do you see? What action is taking place?• What choices has the photographer made in

taking the picture? – How does lighting convey a point of view?– How does the perspective from the camera convey a

point of view?

• How do you think different types of people responded to this image when it first appeared? How do you respond?

SLAVE QUARTERS

FREESOILERS IN KANSAS, 1856

ANTIETAM, 1862

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, 1865

USEFUL WEB SITES

• www.gilder-lehrman.org (documents, visual images, and learning tools)

• http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/d?app:260:./temp/~pp_vYk8: (political cartoons from the Library of Congress)

• www.harpweek.com (cartoons and prints from Harper’s Weekly)

• www.abrahamlincoln’sclassroom.com