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 Seymour as Evil

 


 "Led Us Not Into Temptation"
  Cartoonist:  Thomas Nast
  Source:  Harper's Weekly
  Date:   September 19, 1868, p. 600

Click to see a large version of this cartoon...

Click to see a large version of this cartoon

Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
With this cartoon Nast extends his depiction of Seymour having demonically horned hair to portraying the Democratic nominee explicitly as Satan the tempter. The cartoonist presents the choice before the voters as a stark one, foretelling extremely different futures: a vote for Grant and the Republicans leads to peace and prosperity-heaven on earth; while a ballot cast for Seymour and the Democrats leads to war and ruin-hell on earth.

The scene behind Seymour includes the figures of vice-presidential nominee Frank Blair, Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth, and lynched blacks. The landscape behind Columbia includes the Capitol building, a statue of Lincoln, and a Union war memorial. The captions contrast the pacific plea of Republican presidential nominee Ulysses S. Grant with the vitriolic statements of Democratic vice-presidential nominee Blair and Zebulon Vance, former Confederate governor of North Carolina.

 

 

 

 
 

 

     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 

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