Page 216 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

399 ● (MILITARY—CIVIL WAR.) JEFFERSON DAVIS. Re-Union on the Secesh-
Democratic Plan. Lithograph by Currier and Ives, 123⁄4 x 153⁄4 inches; paper evenly toned;
matted and framed. New York: Currier and Ives, 1862 [800/1,200]
A cynical view of Democratic efforts to pursue a negotiated end to the secession of President of
the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis confronts Brother Jonathan (Uncle Sam), who is hobbled
under the weight of two enormous sacks marked “Confederate Debt, $650,000,000” and
“Federal Debt, $150,000,000.” [does anything ever change?]. He is further burdened by a
slave in chains who rides his back between the two sacks. Davis says “Well Jonathan, if you
agree to bear all the expenses of the war, and on top of that let me impose on you the old bur-
den of slavery, while I hold the chain and whip, I’ll put up my weapons for a while and we’ll
have the ‘Union as it was’ only a great deal more so.” Uncle Sam replies: “Anything my
erring brother . . . Currier and Ives Catalogue Raissonee, page 134. Published in “American
Political Prints 1776-1876” [Bernard Reilly. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1991].
MILITARY
LOTS 399-448