---
title: Re-construction, or 'a white man's government'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/reconstruction-white-mans-government-currier-ives-1868/
description: Pro-Grant cartoon. A Black man clinging to the 'tree of Liberty' offers a hand to a white former slaveholder drowning in a river, who refuses it in…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** 1868 pro-Grant print with a racial slur and dialect in its printed speech. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Re-construction, or 'a white man's government'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/reconstruction-white-mans-government-currier-ives-1868.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/reconstruction-white-mans-government-currier-ives-1868.jpg)

# Re-construction, or 'a white man's government'

Pro-Grant cartoon. A Black man clinging to the 'tree of Liberty' offers a hand to a white former slaveholder drowning in a river, who refuses it in dialect-speech; Grant, standing on the bank, urges him to accept help. The Democratic slogan 'a white man's government' is turned into the title of a scene about Reconstruction and reconciliation.

[← The Radical Party on a Heavy Grade](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/radical-party-heavy-grade-currier-ives-1868/) [The Republican Platform, or the Political Mountebank →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/republican-platform-mountebank-mcdermott-1868/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Punch, 'The Jamaica Question' (Tenniel), 23 December 1865](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/punch-jamaica-question-1865/) (United Kingdom · Dec 23, 1865 · Name-calling, Semantic hijacking). Content note: Full-page period caricature of a Black Jamaican man, a white planter and a clergyman, made in the context of the 1865 Morant Bay killings.
- [True democracy is safe! (Puck)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-true-democracy-is-safe-palmer-1896/) (United States · Sep 30, 1896 · Semantic hijacking)
- [Mr. John Dillon, M.P., on recruiting in Ireland. Join an Irish regiment to-day](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/john-dillon-on-recruiting-in-ireland-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Testimonial, Semantic hijacking)
- [Auch die Geduld hat ein Ende (Even Patience Has an End), German-language leaflet for German soldiers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/allied-leaflet-auch-die-geduld-hat-ein-ende-1918/) (Transnational · 1918 · Scapegoating, Semantic hijacking)
- ['Zeitaku wa teki da!' (Luxury Is the Enemy!) street sign, Tokyo](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/luxury-is-the-enemy-sign-1940/) (Empire of Japan · Aug 1, 1940 · Semantic hijacking, Identity fusion)
- [Männer und Frauen der Untersteiermark! (leaflet for enrolment in the Styrian Homeland League)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/maenner-und-frauen-der-untersteiermark-1941/) (Nazi Germany · 1941 · Semantic hijacking, Scapegoating, Name-calling). Content note: Occupation proclamation with threats against 'elements hostile to the people'
- [V = Duitschland wint voor Europa op alle fronten (V = Germany wins for Europe on all fronts)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/v-duitschland-wint-voor-europa-1941/) (Nazi Germany · 1941 · Semantic hijacking)
- [V = Zwycięstwo Niemiec na wszystkich frontach (V = Victory of Germany on all fronts)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/v-zwyciestwo-niemiec-polish-v-poster-1941/) (General Government · Jul 1941 · Card stacking, Semantic hijacking)