The first image, The “Rail Splitter” at Work Repairing the Union is a political cartoon.

The first image, The “Rail Splitter” at Work Repairing the Union is a political cartoon. A political cartoon is similar to a meme with a political message.

15. Reconstruction

The second image, “Reconstruction” is a lithograph that also conveys a political message. The message is explained on the Library of Congress source page:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/pga.01366/

Your reading defines Reconstruction as “the effort to restore southern states to the Union and to redefine African Americans’ place in American society.” Rephrase the goals of reconstruction in your own words. That is, how would you explain reconstruction to a 9 or 10 year old?

Given what you have read about slavery and the Civil War in the background reading, do you consider these images to be optimistic (expecting the best outcome) or pessimistic (expecting the worst outcome) about Reconstruction? You should describe what you see in each image to defend your answer. ( An excellent answer will answer all parts of the question, and cite more than one descriiption of the image as evidence.)

Answer & Explanation
VerifiedSolved by verified expert
It is possible that “The Rail Splitter” at Work Repairing the Union refers to a political cartoon, but without more information or context, I cannot say for certain.

“The Rail Splitter” was a nickname given to Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the Un

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Step-by-step explanation
ited States, because of his humble origins as a rail splitter before entering politics. The phrase “repairing the Union” suggests that the image is related to the Civil War, during which Lincoln played a significant role in preserving the unity of the United States.

Political cartoons were popular during the time of Lincoln’s presidency and often depicted political figures and events in a satirical or critical way. Therefore, it is possible that there exists a political cartoon with a similar title or theme.

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