In this imaginary scene, President Martin Van Buren receives the ambassador of Hayti (Haiti), an act that would have given diplomatic recognition to the independent nation of former slaves and angered the southern slaveholders. A shadowy figure (behind the chair) engineers the move to punish southern members of Van Buren’s party, the Democrats. In reality, diplomatic relations were not established with Haiti until 1862.
Compare the grotesque caricature of the Haitian ambassador to the favorable portrait of Haitian President Charles Rivière Hérard, also published by Robinson. |