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A world inverted: political satire and the proslavery argument

ABSTRACT William Dent’s political satire titled Abolition of the Slave Trade, or the Man the Master has been uniformly categorized as a proslavery cartoon. However, elements of the visual satire invoked by the image invite a critique of the institution of slavery that tacitly endorses some abolitionist arguments. This article more fully situates Dent’s caricature in the specific historical moment of its publication as a response to both the abolitionists opposed to the slave trade and the advocates propounding the great benefits of plantation slavery. Thus, the politics of the cartoon are more complex than the term proslavery implies.