King Cotton bound; the modern Prometheus

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Abstract:: Slave-grown American cotton allowed British cities such as Birmingham to prosper. From the outset of the Civil War, one of the aims of the Northern blockage of southern ports was to prevent the export of cotton which the South could use to purchase military supplies from Europe. British imperialists had begun to promote the growing of cotton in Egypt and India and welcomed the elimination of American competition. In this cartoon, King Cotton, like Prometheus, is fastened to a rock with a metal block inscribed "blockade". The eagle tearing at the cotton bale has the stars and stripes on its left wing and the stars and bars on its right.

Tenniel, John, "King Cotton bound; the modern Prometheus" (1861). Lincoln Graphics. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:69763/

Lincoln Graphics

Prints in the Lincoln collection are classified by Meserve numbers, and include most of the known photographic images of Lincoln, along with engravings and popular prints by, among other firms, Currier & Ives and Kurz & Allen. There are also …
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