Can anyone kind of further explain the political cartoon? "A National Game That Is Played Out" I sort of understand the basics on it but there's only 2 websites that I've found that talk about it and they both say pretty much the same thing
1 Answer
It's a sport analogy for the 1876 election controversy.
Explanation:
I'm assuming you are talking about this cartoon. It depicts some shoes/feet kicking the "ballot box" around.
Them kicking around the ballot box looks an awful lot like someone kicking a ball around in a sport, no?
The kicking around of the ball is an analogy to the disputed presidential election returns from South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana,
I believe this refers to the 1876 Presidential election of Rutherford B. Hayes vs Samuel J. Tilden. In this election, Rutherford, a Republican, lost the popular vote but won the electoral college. But that's not what originally happened.
Turns out Tilden was about to win the election- having 184 of the 185 electoral votes. But Republicans accused the Democrats of using physical intimidation and bribery to discourage African Americans from voting in the South. In South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana, Dems apparently refused to count African American/Republican votes.
Of course, this resulted in a huge controversy: it ended
at a meeting in February 1877 in Washington, D.C., Where Democrat leaders decided to accept Hayes's election in exchange for Republican promises to withdraw federal troops from the South.
In all, the Cartoon is an analogy to the election: American football rules, the ball was not passed but kicked and carried only, so it is describing the change of the election process
