Indianapolis Freeman artists typically denounced racial discrimination and social inequality, and focused on presidential failures to stem racial violence. This frequently-repeated drawing, for example, showed an Atlas-like figure shouldering the combined burdens of discrimination, poverty, and violence. The Freeman was a Democratic-leaning politically independent press, emerging from the heart of the expanding Northwest, but its strong advocacy for a greater federal government role in ending racial violence aligned it more closely with Republican Party traditions than the Democratic party's adherence to states' rights.