Week 1 Comprehensive Assignment

This cartoon depicts an anti-federalists outlook regarding the public with relation to leaders in a federalist system. Anti-federalists believe that a federal system takes too much power from the states and the common man. In a federalist system, the leader may intentionally or accidentally establish himself as the leader for longer than is wise (like FDR). When this occurs, that person may begin to accumulate powers that he should not have, like in the French monarchial system under Louis XIV. The idea is expressed in this cartoon by giving the figure in the carton a halo of fire, mimicking portraits of Louis XIV, the Sun King. The people, like slaves, are subjected to the rule of the leader, depicted by the most obvious part of the image. The people are bowing at the feet of the leader, just as slaves and worshippers do. The ambiguous figure being worshipped in the picture does not have a face in order to depict that the voting populace would not truly know who he is. The voters who are worshipping the figure have walking canes and ballots written in brail. The braille on the ballots translates to “Federalist” & “Anti-Federalist”. The blind voters selected the Federalists to lead the country. This depicts the idea that voters are blind to what really occurs in a bureaucracy. The cartoon is pointed toward the Federalist voters, in hopes to make them realize what a strong centralized government could mean for the country.