A Fast Lady of State.[1]
[Editorial Note: Many of the Southern states tettering on the brink of secession happened to have women's names such as Georgia or Virginia. The first state to proclaim its independence of the Union was South Carolina whose name could easily be transposed into Caroline. So too with Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Florida. Political cartoonists quickly seized upon this coincidence and began to portray the future Confederated States of America as a group of rebellious young females. "A Fast Lady of State" put the idea that secession was analogous to suffrage into verse. "Fast" meant willing to overthrow conventional ideas, especially those governing the "proper" behavior of young women. The "dreadful scare" referred to was the South's threat to secede if were Lincoln elected. The use of the verb "consummate" in this context is striking since it often was used to describe sexual intercourse.]
I will not live with Uncle Sam!
I'll give the door behind a slam,
And let the world know who I am!
I've always felt a palsying shame,
That I, a bold imperial dame,
Should be compelled to live so tame.
He tells me that I can't secede,
Nor revolutionize. Indeed!
I trample under foot the creed!
A clement queen he knows I am;
I bore the crimes of Uncle Sam,
Until he proved a hopeless sham.
But now his stubborn bearing calls
For blows convincing, till he bawls,
And cries "Enough!" and overhauls
His hateful acts of forty years;
And then, with penitential tears,
Admits my right to box his ears.
My Uncle stares and calls me "fast"
And let him stare! He finds, at last,
My days of compromise are past.
The Yankees said I would not dare
To consummate the "dreadful scare;"
But now they whisper, "Oh, forbear!"
Their hair, affrighted, stands on end,
To see me bristle and defend
My rights, without a single bend.
But I will grant no peace until
Myself and boys -- By Congress Bill --
Can go just when and where we will.
I'm out of patience! -- that I am!
I'll give the door a stunning slam,
And smash the face of Uncle Sam!
[1]Unidentified clipping in Civil War Caricatures folder, American Antiquarian Society.