"In the name of Democracy they have stirred up the laboring men and have filled the streets of New York with bloodshed, anarchy, and riots"

A Great Fraud. Letterpress broadside. New York City: N.Y. Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association, 1863. 11 1/2 x 18 3/4 in.

A striking political broadside boldly titled "A Great Fraud," published by the New York Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association in 1863. Its fervent language sharply criticizes the Democratic Party, accusing it of betraying both the Union and the working classes through covert support of Confederate secession and slavery. The broadside explicitly charges Democrats with hypocrisy, stating, "In the name of Democracy they advocate the interests of traitors who hate freedom, and who believe that Slavery is the true condition of all Labor."

The author of the broadside's pointed accusations highlight the intense political and social divisions of the era, condemning those who "filled the land with bloody graves" and accusing the party of stirring unrest: "In the name of Democracy they have stirred up the laboring men and have filled the streets of New York with bloodshed, anarchy, and riots." This line clearly references the New York Draft Riots of July 1863, when violent protests erupted among working-class citizens opposed to wartime conscription.

A historically significant reflection of the deeply polarized political atmosphere of the American Civil War and turmoil that shaped Union wartime politics.

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[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Broadsides, Ephemera, Printing, Posters, Handbills, Documents, Newspapers]