Lincoln is using his railsplitter's maul to beat back the dragon of rebellion, but he is chained to a stumped label DEMOCRACY, with the Constitution sitting on top of it, with a book (perhaps the bible? and a bottle (of rum ?) over top of the the Constitution. The whole affair is braced up against a cracked Liberty Bell. It should be noted that the Democratic Party was referred to as "the Democracy" and this is clearly Blythe's intent here. The bible and bottle of rum can be interpreted as a symbol of Rum and Romanism -- a swipe at Catholics who were reputed to drink more rum, whiskey, and other hard liquor than Protestants supposedly drank. The Irish harp by the dragon's hoof -- and the stereotypical Irish figure pulling at the chain -- give a further clue to what Blythe is saying: Democrats, Catholics, and Irish immigrants are in an unholy alliance to keep Lincoln from prosecuting the war vigorously.

Meanwhile,.a couple of disreputable types lounge in the entrance of Tamony Hall (an obvious pun with money and Tammany Hall -- the corrupt poltical machine that ran New York). The "O" in "Tamony" takes the form of a demon of some sort, just in case the message wasn't clear enough. Grafiitti scrawled on the Hall warns the rebellion can only be crushed by constitutional means. It is signed by Fernando Wood & co, (Wood was the pro-seccessiononist mayor of New York, who even toyed with seceding the city itself out of the Union). The notation "need we Saymour" is a pun on the name of Horatio Seymour, the Governor of New York, who opposed many of Lincoln's measures, such as the draft, limits on personal liberty, and the Emancipation Proclamation. Meanhwhile, there is quite literally a "fire in the rear" that no one is attempting to put out, and a gallows, ready, perhaps, for hanging traitors, is standing unused. In other words, Wood, Seymour, and other politicians are willing to stand idly by and let the country fail, even if they aren't actively supporting the rebellion.

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This print, directly based on another Blythe painting, is, if anything, even more full of allegory and symbolic images. Lincoln pauses to contemplate his work in the midst of writing the Emancipation Proclamation (ie, the "the Proclamation of Freedom"). It would appear that he has been sitting up working all night: he is in his slippers, his jacket is discarded in a corner, and the light of a new dawn streams in through a window curtained by the Union flag. The scales of justice, badly out of balance, hang on the wall behind him, as does a large key, perhaps waiting to opens the locks and unchain the slaves. Directly below the key a copy of the Presidential Oath is posted on the wall. The calm, clear-eyed president sits, pen in one hand, the other resting on the Holy Bible, which sits in his lap on top of a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Lincoln's railsplitting maul rests on a map of the rebel states, and his foot sits on a paper marked "PEACE DEMOCRACY" (a reference to anti-war Democrats). A bust of Andrew Jackson sits on the mantle, holding down a bit of paper with his words, "The Union must and shall be preserved." A bust of Lincoln's immediate predecessor, James Buchanan, who allowed the Southern states to secede, hangs by a cord wrapped around its neck.  A motto on the shelf behind reads "WITHOUT SLAVERY THE WAR WOULD NOT EXIST AND WITHOUT SLAVERY IT WOULD NOT BE CONTINUED." Protests, petitions and letters against slavery are strewn on and around the couch, along with masonic symbols and a Christian cross. A map of Europe (whose countries were flirting with the idea of recognising the Confederarcy)  is on the wall, with Washington's sword hanging over it . Reports of battles, diplomatic problems, and the writings of pro-slavery thinkers are piled up between Lincoln and the window.  

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