The Handshake That Broke America
The Cartoons that Foretold the Politics of Fear
Though the Civil War ended in 1865, the battle for equality continued. Thomas Nast, the father of American political cartoons, used his art to expose the alliances between Southern ex-Confederates, white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, and Northern politicians who chose terror over justice, undermining Reconstruction’s promise of racial equality.
In "The Lost Cause : Worse than Slavery” (1874), Nast captures a powerful moment of treachery: two white men, a Ku Klux Klan member and a representative of the White League reach out and shake hands over a skull and crossbones. 1
Beneath their handshake, a Black family huddles in fear, surrounded by the fires of a burning schoolhouse and the shadow of a lynching—a stark reminder that violence wasn’t incidental, but the tool through which white supremacy maintained its grip.
The family’s fear and helplessness is a stark contrast to the grim unity between the KKK and White League members, each holding weapons, signaling their mutual commitment to upholding white supremacy through terror.
The handshake, for Nast, symbolized complicity—a deal struck to erase the hard-won freedoms of Reconstruction in favor of a return to white dominance. The phrase “Worse than Slavery” etched into the image made clear that Black Americans now faced a level of violence that even slavery had not inflicted.
But this betrayal did not begin in 1874. Six years earlier, in “This is a White Man’s Government” (1868), Nast had already foreshadowed the political and racial alliances that would bring Reconstruction to its knees.
The image caption informs the viewer that Nast is specifically criticizing the Democratic Party’s opposition to Reconstruction legislation. The three standing figures represent what Nast considers to be the three wings of the Democratic party: Irish immigrants, white supremacists (represented by Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest), and Northern capitalists.
Nast portrays the Democratic Party as a party of oppressors of black citizens, represented by a black Union soldier felled while carrying the American flag and reaching for a ballot box. 2
In the background, Nast adds the burning Colored Orphan Asylum and a lynched figure to remind viewers of the Irish-American and Democratic involvement in the Civil War draft riots in New York City.
The cartoon title is a direct quotation from the 1868 Democratic presidential ticket of Seymour and Blair, which featured the motto: This is a White Man’s Country: Let White Men Rule.
Arthur Frost’s “Of Course He Wants to Vote the Democratic Ticket” (1876), also published in Harper’s Weekly, works in tandem with Nast’s imagery to expose the systemic violence faced by Black voters. In Frost’s cartoon, a Black man is held at gunpoint, forced to vote for the Democratic ticket—an act of coercion that mirrors the racial terror Nast illustrated. Together, these works underscore how terror wasn’t just a fringe tactic but a widespread political strategy.
Two men, one on each side, point pistols at a Black man’s head while a crowd watches, smiling. The man holds a “Democratic Ticket” in his hand, symbolizing the violent intimidation Black voters faced.
One white man says, “Of course he wants to vote the Democratic ticket.”
The other replies: “You’re as free as air, ain’t you! Say you are, or I’ll blow yer black head off!”
On a table in front of the open door are two wooden ballot boxes, a liquor bottle, glass, and pistol. Beyond, two armed men on horseback pull another black man between them, to force another vote.
Warnings for Our Time
As Nast and Frost foresaw, Reconstruction's collapse was not just a failure of policy but a deliberate, violent reassertion of white supremacy, one that would cast its shadow well into the 20th century and beyond.
The systemic racism of the post-Reconstruction era, upheld by terror, collusion, and political maneuvering, are disturbingly familiar in today’s political landscape.
Conservative political leaders, right-wing media, and extremist groups have weaponized race and ethnicity to stoke fear and division, echoing tactics once used to disenfranchise Black Americans. From restricting voting rights to scapegoating immigrants, they perpetuate the same strategies of exclusion and control.
The machinery of white supremacy evolves but its core remains unchanged. These cartoons are not just historical artifacts; they are prophetic warnings, reminding us that the fight for true equality remains unfinished.
For a modern version of the White League, see my post "Respectable Hate: When White Citizens' Councils were the 'Klan in a Suit'"
In the Civil War era, the Republican Party, led by Lincoln, was the party of emancipation and civil rights for African Americans, while the Democrats represented Southern whites and opposed Black empowerment. This alignment persisted until the 1960s when, during the Civil Rights Movement, Democrats began supporting civil rights reforms, causing a political shift. White Southern voters, disillusioned by the Democratic Party’s new stance, gravitated towards the Republicans, especially after Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” appealed to their racial anxieties. Today’s Republican Party, far from its Lincoln-era origins, now aligns with many of the positions once held by Southern Democrats.
For more on the Politics of Violence and Oppression see:
White Supremacy on the Ballot (1866)
A racist 1866 political poster demonizes a newly freed African American as being idle "at the expense of the white man." This poster was in support of Hiester Clymer, a racist and a 1866 candidate for the governor of Pennsylvania. He ran on a white supremacy platform.
How to Incite a White Riot (1898)
The Wilmington Massacre of 1898 (Nov 10, 1898) was a violent attack on the African American community in Wilmington, North Carolina, in which white supremacists overthrew the legitimately elected biracial government in Wilmington and killed an unknown number of black residents.
Powerful thank you
Your excellent research once again shows that the labels may have switched, but these violent ideas have never died, just reappear in a new form, from the KKK to MAGA, you can tell the terrorists by their violent actions and willingness to destroy our Constitution to bring back the Confederacy.