page_title: The Modern Samson
hierarchical_section_title: The Modern Samson
caption_attribution_description: English: Thomas Nast's cartoon "The Modern Samson," 1868. Shows the Delilah of "Southern Democracy" (i.e. the southern Democratic party) at right displaying the cut hair of "Suffrage" to the approaching Philistines at left, while a black Samson figure slowly awakes. The caricatures of armed Democratic figures include (from left to right): Wade Hampton III with a torch held high; Nathan Bedford Forrest with a Fort Pillow Medallion; Robert E. Lee squatting; presidential nominee Horatio Seymour with hair shaped into horns, wearing a Ku Klux Klan breastplate, and carrying a C.S. flag that promotes slavery, the "lost cause" (the Confederacy), Civil War draft riots of New York City, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Reconstruction race riots in Memphis and New Orleans; wearing another Ku Klux Klan breastplate, current vice presidential nominee Frank Blair; former Confederate Rear Admiral Raphael Semmes; and 23rd New York Governor John Hoffman with a generic Catholic Irish-American under his arm. On the far right, a statue of President Andrew Johnson is likened to a "Moses" of the black Americans holding a tablet labeled "veto" to remind the audience of his recent Reconstruction legislation veto. Under the statue is a snake with horns similar to the hair of the depiction of Seymour, alluding to Satan. Opposite, on the left, a bonfire is depicted in front of them burning the Bible as well as various symbols of knowledge including books, a scroll, and a globe.
context_page_description: The Modern Samson is an influential political cartoon drawn by cartoonist Thomas Nast. It originally appeared on Page 632 of the October 3rd Issue of Harper's Weekly in 1868.
context_section_description: The Modern Samson is an influential political cartoon drawn by cartoonist Thomas Nast. It originally appeared on Page 632 of the October 3rd Issue of Harper's Weekly in 1868.
caption: The Modern Samson drawn in 1868 by Thomas Nast.
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