"We Accept the Situation"

Two panels, one caption. On the left, a Black man—drawn in the broad minstrel-caricature style Nast routinely applied to figures he meant to dignify as well as mock—strides forward joyfully, ballot slip labeled A VOTE raised in one hand, a Military Bill posting behind him listing liberty for male citizens of whatever race or color. On the right, a sullen ex-Confederate (hat stamped Ex C.S.A.) slumps before a second posting warning that rebels and felons may be disfranchised, and a ground-level sign reads No Vote. The shared caption—"We Accept the Situation"—gives both men the same line with opposite meanings. Nast champions Congressional Reconstruction: Black male suffrage granted, secessionist voting rights forfeited.