Re-union on the Secesh-Democratic Plan

Re-union on the Secesh-Democratic Plan

Currier & Ives

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Made early in the American Civil War, this political satire responds cynically to efforts by the Democratic party to pursue a negotiated end to Southern secession. Shown at left, dressed as a Southern Planter, Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy carries pistols, a whip and chain attached to an enslaved Black man. At right is Brother Jonathan, a personification of America that pre-dated Uncle Sam, staggers under a huge bundle labeled "Confederate Debt $650,000,000" and "Federal Debt $1500,000,000," as well as the Black man chained by Davis.The latter 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 burden of slavery, while I hold the chain and the 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." Jonathan replies, "Anything my 'erring brother' for the sake of getting our party once more into power; although with this burden to carry the path of peace 'will be a hard road to travel."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Re-union on the Secesh-Democratic PlanRe-union on the Secesh-Democratic PlanRe-union on the Secesh-Democratic PlanRe-union on the Secesh-Democratic PlanRe-union on the Secesh-Democratic Plan

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.