Not subtle at all


Here’s a fascinating 18th century political cartoon:

There’s a short essay to go with it.

One could provoke debate about the sexualized imagery throughout the cartoon, the purpose of a racialized America, the ways in which imagery of class, race, and gender intersect, and the place of the “civilized” European versus the “natural” American in the rhetoric of the American Revolution. Does the artist believe Britain holds the moral right; does the cartoon display America’s winning ideology? Which should win, or who shall?

One could. I’m just overwhelmed with the freight of associations here.

Comments

  1. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    my bias sees the Indigenous woman declaring Freedom of Religion is Liberty in life, implying that killing her would end Liberty
    (…while I live)

  2. curbyrdogma says

    Good analogy. (Also, in which we learn that they used the word “slut” in the 18th century)

  3. Sakura No Seirei, Zoë, born into the purple says

    I’m fascinated by the way the printer has exerted their copyright protections under the protection of a statute. I hadn’t realised that copyright existed that far back.