Map Showing the Comparitive [sic] Area of the Northern and Southern States, East of the Rocky Mountains.
- Title:
- Map Showing the Comparitive [sic] Area of the Northern and Southern States, East of the Rocky Mountains.
- Alternate Title:
- Map Showing the [Comparative] Area of the Northern and Southern States
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Harper's Weekly
- Date:
- 1861
- Date 2:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2323.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2323_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1800 - 1869
- Subject:
- U.S. Civil War
Unusual Graphics/Text - Measurement:
- 23 x 35 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This map of the Northern and Southern states appeared at a critical time on the eve of the Civil War. Lincoln had been elected, but not yet inaugurated. South Carolina and six other states had seceded, but Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina had not. The attack on Fort Sumter was seven weeks in the future.
Harper’s Weekly was in a delicate position. It was the most widely-read journal of the time, and had many Southern subscribers. During the months leading up to the War, it "took a decidedly neutral stance toward the issue of slavery, prompting some critics to label it Harper's Weakly” (Pierpaoli 2013, 867), and it continued to urge compromise. This issue, for example, included portraits and biographies of Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens, to “introduce to our readers the newly-elected President and Vice-President of the new Southern Confederacy, organized at Montgomery, Alabama, on 4th February.” The description of Davis concluded by noting that he was “a very gentlemanly man.”
What makes this map particularly interesting is that the Northern states are shown in black, and the Southern in white. In persuasive cartography, areas shown in white generally portray the positive event, and black the negative. A good example is the development of the very successful “Suffrage Map” by the women’s movement. See Subjects > Suffrage; Notes for ID #1193, “Votes for Women a Success.” The very first suffrage maps, in 1908, showed those states that had granted the vote to women in black. See, e.g., ID #1165. But by 1911, the movement had changed its convention “to communicate the suffrage message in a more compelling way,” showing those states where women had the vote in white (“associated with purity, virtue, freedom”) rather than unenlightened black (“uncleanness, unclarity, slavery”). Dando 2010, 225, 226. See ID #1169.
Not surprisingly, this convention was followed by the Northern press at the time of the Civil War. See, e.g., ID #1062, “The Present Area of the Rebellion: The Loyal States and Territories of the Union in White, the Disloyal in Black” (New York Herald, March 5, 1862). But the choice of colors by Harper’s here - like the flattering description of Jefferson Davis - helped it avoid choosing between North and South for as long as possible. Once the War began, however, Harper’s “became an avid supporter of the Union war program. Indeed, the paper's news coverage and illustrations served as a powerful arm of the admittedly unorganized Union propaganda effort.” Pierpaoli 867. To that end, its maps during the War showed Confederate territory in black and the Union in white. See, e.g., ID #1070, “Map of the Rebellion, As It Was in 1861 and As It Is in 1864.”
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- Harper's Weekly, February 23, 1861.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.