Uncle Sam protecting his property against the encroachments of his cousin John
Title: Uncle Sam protecting his property against the encroachments of his cousin John
Year: 1861
Description: Northern fears of European intervention in the Civil War on behalf of the South are manifest here.
Uncle Sam, in the form of a bearded Union soldier (closely resembling Abraham Lincoln), unceremoniously routs John Bull from a fenced garden where the latter has been poaching. Grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, Sam warns, “John, You lost your Non-interfering Principle. I’ll lay it on your back again.” The American wields a large stick “Principle of Non Enterference.”
John Bull has a handful of cotton plants, more of which appear at right, and wears “Armstrong’s Patent” cannon on his legs. (The term refers to a type of English-made gun used by the Confederates.) The artist has hidden several Negro faces in his drawings of cotton plants here.