Judge — December 21, 1889 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This political cartoon mourns Jefferson Davis, the former Confederate president who recently died. The allegorical female figure representing "The South" kneels grieving before Davis's monument, while a ghostly figure (identified by caption as Lincoln's shade) stands observing. The satire targets Southern nostalgia for the Confederacy. Lincoln's ghost challenges Davis's patriotism with the pointed question: "If he was a PATRIOT what was I?"—implying Davis fought against the Union and therefore cannot claim patriotic status. The cartoon argues that Southern mourning of Davis represents misplaced reverence for a traitor. Judge, a Republican-leaning publication, uses this commentary to critique ongoing sectional tensions and the romanticization of the Lost Cause.