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Why bother writing a letter when the envelope says it all? In the 1840s and 50s, envelopes with humorous scenes or advertisements pre-printed on them were common. When the 1860s embroiled the U.S. in Civil War, envelopes became the perfect delivery medium for propaganda. Today, hundreds of examples survive, preserved in archives and collections, and they remain a potent reminder of the prevailing attitudes, prejudices and regional beefs of the time. (They’re also great examples of a uniquely 19th-century form of really overwrought sarcasm.) Here are some of the craziest. A probably self-evident warning: some of these are pretty racist. Link via boingboing.
“To cure rebellion: this is the pill that will cure or kill.” Obviously a Union envelope, and a devilishly sarcastic one at that.
“The cause of all our troubles.” A stomach-turner, I know. The question is: do you think this is a Union envelope, or a Confederate one?
This one speaks for itself. Nice detail here. The soldier hung from a tree forming the “D”? A-plus!
Another Union envelope, urging Southerners to give up on that whole “secession” thing. (Guess the illustrated envelope campaign didn’t go so well.)
“Martyr” is such a charged word …
No text necessary. An abolitionist image if there ever was one.
Get it? Ass!
Much more can be seen at the New York Historical Society’s website.
amazing find!
posted by Mangesh on 8-8-2007 at 11:58 am
well is the second one confederate or what?
posted by josh on 8-8-2007 at 12:23 pm
I actually have an Ellsworth envelope.
posted by Accalia on 8-8-2007 at 12:37 pm
josh — we’re not completely sure! what do you think?
posted by Ransom on 8-8-2007 at 12:38 pm
It’s really impossible to tell the origin of the “cause of ..trouble” envelope. Even though it’s rarely spoken of, there was a LOT of resentlment toward black folks in the North, blaming them for causing the war. It seems more likely therefore, to be Union, because the Confederates just blamed the Yankees themselves for everything. From another perspective, it may very well have been an abolitionist statement, meaning the institution of slavery and not the slaves themselves were the cause of the war the subsequent distress for the country as a whole.
posted by Allison on 8-8-2007 at 1:52 pm
I concur with Allison — she did a good job explaining the issue & my vote is that it came from the North. These would be the same people who were in favor of shipping the freed blacks back the Africa — wiki “American Colonization Society”
posted by Sid Morrison on 8-8-2007 at 2:19 pm
Thanks Sid, for the compliment. But there should have been an “and” in the last part of my last sentence. Something about a text box makes me lose all my writing skill. I hate to have flossers thinking I’m a doofus!
posted by Allison on 8-8-2007 at 3:00 pm
Don’t fret Allison, it happens all the time. There must be a name for such a phenomenon.
posted by Miss Cellania on 8-8-2007 at 4:43 pm
Jeez, I don’t know, I think Alison may be on to something with the abolitionist slant. The image doesn’t seem to paint Africans in a bad light, rather it frames the man in laurels of some kind sort of respectfully….
posted by josh on 8-9-2007 at 10:09 am
There’s also the fact that the man is framed on either side by people working fields - which made me think that it was blaming the whole plantation-farming system and/or the institution of slavery, rather than the slave himself.
posted by Melanie on 8-9-2007 at 10:55 am
On the other hand, the war had already started when President Lincoln was convinced that it was necessary to recast it as one of abolition. The causes of the war were actually one of economy and states rights at the beginning. It is unlikely that a superficial examination of the envelope and circumstances will narrow the field to one side or the other!
posted by Ray Brohinsky on 8-9-2007 at 12:39 pm
Seems to me that the picture has a an aura of dignity ones wouldn’t expect from a racist depiction. I think it’s an abolitionist envelope.
For the record, everyone back then thought the was was about slavery- even the southerners. This “states’ rights” hokum was cooked up after the war by people who wanted the south to look better that it actually was.
posted by Zach on 8-9-2007 at 10:28 pm
Oh, this lifelong Northerner disagrees with Zach’s assertion that states’ rights was “a hokum issue” cooked up after the War!
You can research plenty of antebellum publications online (go to Google Books)and find it was a very broad hot topic in that era. Yes, slavery was the biggest boil on the big toe that was states rights, but plenty of other issues were involved! Increasing Federalism (which was becoming more Northern-dominated because of the population difference) and the resultant policies differences involving tariffs/taxation, banking policy, foreign trade, agriculture, growth of roads/rairoads, &c. caused friction on a lot of fronts! Also, completely different identities between North and South was large a contributor as well. Prior to the War, their was one Union, but effectively 2 countries within it. They quarreled A LOT over A LOT of things!
Once the War started hundreds of thousands of volunteers joined up on both sides. The vast majority of these were neither pro- nor anti-slavery zealots. Most had little interest in slavery one way or the other. They did however have loyalty to their State (or the Union),and from the point of the Southerners were protecting their family & homeland from invasion.
Yes, slavery was the biggest of the problems and if that wasn’t a key issue it’s possible War could have been forestalled or avoided alltogether. But, there were other real issues which may have resulted in all or some states seceding, though. Read about the Nullification Crisis and the near earlier secession of South Carolina over tariffs (around 1830).
Dismissing the significance of the many non-slavery issues is a gross oversimplification of troubles of the times.
Straight talk from Sid
posted by Sid Morrison on 8-10-2007 at 1:47 pm