Congress - 14th Amendment 2nd section Kemble

Cartoon shows Congress as a fat man asleep in a hammock labeled "Law Enforcement." A broken blunderbuss, labeled "14th Amendment, 2nd Section," lies at his feet. A small black boy walks by holding a drum, but an elephant cautions, "Don't wake him up!" The second section of the 14th Amendment provided for reducing a state's apportionment in Congress if the state prevented any male from voting for any reason other than participation in a rebellion or other crime. There was agitation by various black groups in the early years of the 20th Century to enforce it, but no serious attempts by the Republican-led Congress were made. Kemble was a prolific cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his portrayal of African Americans.

(DLC/PP-2001:055-4)
Forms part of: Art Wood Collection of Caricature and Cartoon (Library of Congress).
Exhibited: "The Civil Rights Act of 1964 : A Long Struggle for Freedom" at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., March 2015 - January 2016.
Unprocessed in WOOD/Kemble.306
Sources: FindLaw: U.S. Constitution: Fourteenth Amendment: Annotations, p. 36 [on-line]; Washington post, Feb. 19, 1902, p. 3; Dec. 19, 1904, p. 9; World encyclopedia of cartoons, p. 332-33 ljr