Give the Natives a Chance, Mr. Carl

A well-dressed white man—identified in the caption as 'Mr. Carl,' a reference to Senator Carl Schurz, then Secretary of the Interior overseeing Indian affairs—extends his hand toward a ballot box inscribed 'The Ballot: The Great Protector of the Age / Misuse it and you will suffer.' Beside the box stands a Native American figure in period dress with feathered headdress and cane. Above hangs a three-panel sequence labeled 'Civilized by the Ballot Box,' showing a Black man's progression into civic life. Nast's point is reformist: enfranchisement, not military force or removal, is presented as the way forward for Native peoples. The cartoon reflects Reconstruction-era liberal approaches to citizenship and rights.