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by Catherine McGrew Jaime (Author)
During the first twelve years after the Civil War the United States was involved in its "Reconstruction" efforts. Out of that era came three amendments to the U.S. Constitution, a Freedmen's Bureau that came and went, and a variety of Civil Rights bills. This project started as a look at many of the important documents from the Reconstruction Era (a 200+ page book, Rebuilding the Nation: Reconstruction Era Documents and Cartoons which should be available soon. In the meantime, this portion of it soon took on a life of its own - focusing on dozens of illustrations, primarily political cartoons, many of them from Thomas Nast's work during this era. Thomas Nast, "Father of the American Cartoon," was especially well known for his political cartoons during this era and beyond. A note of warning about Nast's cartoons - they can be a bit "in your face." It is important to keep in mind the time period that he drew these in, and the messages he was trying to convey. Some of his cartoons appear more like racial caricatures, but as a general rule, he was extremely pro-minorities, and used his incredible drawing ability to focus on difficult issues of his day. His political cartoons, like the other drawings that I have chosen to include here, are generally full of complex messages. Please do not dismiss these works too quickly. The cartoons and other illustrations are arranged chronologically. By themselves they make an interesting pictorial look at the Reconstruction Era, or they could be combined with any number of the related documents from that time period.
