Question 1:
This political cartoon was made in 1800, the artist is unknown. During 1800, America had recently declared independence. The people of America were struggling to form a strong central government and often found themselves in a dispute about disagreements regarding the decisions made on taxes, slavery, and innovations in America. The political cartoon shows two scenarios of the same white man with an African American woman. In one of the scenarios, the white man is about to beat the African American women with what looks like a lash. The other scenario with the African American women, the white man is kissing the women. At the bottom of the political cartoon, it reads, “Virginian Luxuries.” These type of events were occurring in Virginia. During 1800 in the United States, Virginia was a slave state, the white man that appears on both of these scenarios is the master and African American women, the slave. The author of this cartoon printed the words “Virginia Luxuries” to make a statement about the masters and the way they could be cruel to their slaves and other days take advantage of them to please their needs. The author called it luxuries because the masters were living the best of both worlds. They could treat the slave with astonishing cruelty one day and the next make love to them. During this time period, this kind of actions with masters and their slave women was no surprise. The power that the master had over the slaves, which were simply seen as property, was a luxury that the Virginia white man obtained. It was a luxury of power in the state of Virginia.
Tocqueville was a political scientist, historian, and politician. He had originally gone to the United States to study innovative prisons, but at his arrival, he became interested in the people of America. Once Tocqueville arrived back to France in 1835, he published a book regarding the