Global InformationAmphitheatrum Johnsonianum information
| Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Thomas Nast |
| Year | 1867 |
| Medium | Woodcut |
| Dimensions | 34.61 cm × 52 cm (13.625 in × 20.5 in) |
| Website | Harper's Weekly (archive.org) |
Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum – Massacre of the Innocents at New Orleans, July 30, 1866 (generally known simply as Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum) is a political cartoon by the 19th-century American artist Thomas Nast that depicts U.S. president Andrew Johnson as Emperor Nero at an ancient Roman arena, "figuratively fiddling with the...Constitution" while martyrs are slaughtered. The image depicts Johnson's alleged complicity in, and indifference to, the Memphis and New Orleans massacres of 1866.[1][2] Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum was published in the March 30, 1867 issue of the illustrated newsmagazine Harper's Weekly in a double-page spread measuring 201⁄2 inches wide by 135⁄8 inches high.[3][4][5]
The illustration was prepared in the latter part of 1866, but apparently the 27-year-old artist held it "until an official report on the massacre was released in 1867."[6] Amphitheatrum is one of a series of images by Nast that castigate Johnson "for his failure to secure for the liberated slaves the privileges to which their newly won freedom entitled them. These cartoons are excellent examples of Nast's technique, showing the elaborate detail that characterized so much of his work."[7] Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum has been called a "truly impressive work,"[7] Nast's most important work of 1867,[8] and "one of the most important cartoons that Thomas Nast ever drew."[9]
Nast's illustration reflected the public's disgust with Johnson's failure to keep promises that the Abraham Lincoln-led Union had made during the American Civil War. This outrage led directly to the passage of the monumental Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: "No single event in 1866 more clearly illustrated the states' continued failure to protect the constitutionally enumerated rights of American citizens than the New Orleans Riot of July 30, 1866. The riot left scores dead and wounded, many of them blacks who had fought for the Union in the Civil War. To Republicans, the violence in New Orleans exemplified everything that was wrong with President Johnson's approach to Reconstruction and starkly illustrated the need to require states to protect the rights of speech, press, assembly, and due process."[10]
- ^ Adler, John (2022). America's Most Influential Journalist and Premier Political Cartoonist: The Life, Times and Legacy of Thomas Nast. Sarasota, Fla.: Harpweek LLC. pp. 10 (theatrical framing), 167–168 (identifications). ISBN 978-0-578-29454-4.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:8was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Adler, John (2023). "Character ID Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum Thomas Nast". ThomasNast.com. Archived from the original on 2023-07-10. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
- ^ "Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum – Massacre of the Innocents at New Orleans – July 30, 1866". Harper's Weekly. Vol. XI, no. 535. March 20, 1867. pp. 200–201 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Keller, Morton (1968). The Art and Politics of Thomas Nast. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. vii (measurements), 8 (style/conviction correlation), 43–44 (Nast re Presidential Reconstruction). LCCN 68-19762. OCLC 2807107.
- ^ n.a. (2020). "Explore in Depth: Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum – Detail C". WHO COUNTS? A Look at Voter Rights through Political Cartoons. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2023-05-17. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
- ^ a b Nast, Thomas; St. Hill, Thomas Nast (1974). "IV. The President Maker". Thomas Nast: cartoons and illustrations. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-486-23067-2. LCCN 73-80951. Retrieved 2023-07-29 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Paine, Albert Bigelow (1904). "XV. Reconstruction". Thomas Nast: His Period and His Pictures. New York: Macmillan. pp. 112, 114, 117. ISBN 978-0-7222-2994-1. LCCN 04033591. OCLC 708728. OL 33218579M – via HathiTrust.
- ^ HarpWeek (2005). "Amphitheatrum Johnsonianum". impeach-andrewjohnson.com. Archived from the original on 2021-11-30. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
- ^ Lash, Kurt T. (2014). "Chapter 4. The Public Debate - D. The Debate Turns to Rights: Speech and Assembly in the Southern States". The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges and Immunities of American Citizenship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 176–229. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139150927.005. ISBN 978-1-139-15092-7. OCLC 887851495. Retrieved 2023-07-30 – via CambridgeCore.
