Richard Doyle: “The Land of Liberty” Cartoon

Table of Contents

Richard Doyle: “The Land of Liberty” Cartoon
Overview
Context
About the Artist
Explanation and Analysis of the Document
Document Image

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Abstract

This cartoon was published in England in 1847 during the middle of the U.S. war with Mexico, and it relies on irony to depict what the British saw as the hypocrisy of the United States in general and President James K. Polk in particular. The English had abolished slavery in 1807 and often expressed a sense of moral superiority over Americans, who continued to maintain slavery as an institution despite growing opposition to the practice, and who often enforced the slave system through lynching.

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