“Lincoln’s Last Warning” was the title of a cartoon which appeared in
“Harper’s Weekly,” on October 11, 1862. Under the picture was the text:
“Now if you don’t come down I’ll cut the tree from under you.”
This illustration was peculiarly apt, as, on the 1st of January, 1863,
President Lincoln issued his great Emancipation Proclamation, declaring
all slaves in the United States forever free. “Old Abe” was a handy
man with the axe, he having split many thousands of rails with its keen
edge. As the “Slavery Coon” wouldn’t heed the warning, Lincoln did cut
the tree from under him, and so he came down to the ground with a heavy
thump.
This Act of Emancipation put an end to the notion of the Southern slave
holders that involuntary servitude was one of the “sacred institutions”
on the Continent of North America. It also demonstrated that Lincoln was
thoroughly in earnest when he declared that he would not only save the
Union, but that he meant what he said in the speech wherein he asserted,
“This Nation cannot exist half slave and half free.”