Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner Analysis

Thomas Nast’s cartoon “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner” depicts the United States in a positive light contrary to the dark past that plagued the country through the centuries putting the focus on Nast’s idealistic view of America. This cartoon shows ethnic equality in the United States with multiple races sitting around a table, from the Native American and Irishman to the African American and Chinese family this cartoon attempts to depict a togetherness of all races represented in American. The phrases on the two bottom corners that read: “Come one come all” and “Free and Equal” attempt to show the equality in America at this time without addressing the lack of equality that occurred in the previous one hundred years. This cartoon by Nast

The centerpiece of the table has the phrase “universal suffrage” on its base. During the time period of this cartoon was reconstruction, during of which the phrase “universal suffrage” came into being through a women’s rights movement. The phrase comes from the women’s rights movement attempts at gaining traction in hopes that other ethnic groups who were fighting for their rights would sympathize and help to establish some form of rights for all underrepresented groups basically all non-white males. The women in the Thomas Nast cartoon are depicted as being equal with their male and ethnic counterparts. The women of the time period had little to no rights including not being able to vote. Once again, Nast is ignoring the history of the past and focusing on the present and sharing his idealistic view of America. Overall, Thomas Nast’s cartoon “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner” depicted the United States in a positively despite the dark past that plagued the country through the previous centuries, putting the focus on Nast’s idealistic view of America. Published during a time of reconstruction, racial segregation, Native reservations, and “Universal Suffrage” the cartoon does not even seem to accurately portray the current events of the time in America. Nast puts a heavy focus on inclusion and equality for all ethnicities and genders representing America in the most idealistic way