Oberon and Titania.

A satirical swipe at Lincoln’s motivations during the Civil War.

Issued in the April 5, 1862 (two days before the Battle of Shiloh) edition of London’s Punch magazine, this political cartoon is showing Lincoln and a personification of Virginia as Oberon and Titania. The two are characters in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Nights Dream who argue over the custody of a child, seen here as the black American slave.

The image is a criticism of Lincoln’s alleged anti-slavery motives, and argues that the slaves are best kept in the maternal embrace of the south. Much of England was largely supportive of the Southern states during the Civil War – it behooved the vast empire to avoid competing directly with a strong United States and was closely tied with the cotton exports of the slave economy.