15.
The War is Over
Source:
Republic
County Freeman (Belleville,
KS), July 28, 1892
In this cartoon,
Weaver and Field are seen bridging the "Bloody Chasm" of Civil War and
Reconstruction animosities. Republican
President Benjamin Harrison (left) and Democratic presidential candidate (and
former president) Grover Cleveland (right) try to divert attention from the
Populists. The Lodge "Force
Bill" of 1890 threatened to place southern elections under federal control
(in other words revive Reconstruction) and raised the specter of "Negro
Supremacy" among white southerners. Although
the bill never became law, the threat it posed became a rallying point for
southern Democrats, and impeded the growth of the People's Party in the South.
Harrison's "Granpa" was ex-president William Henry Harrison.
|
Index |