Beneath a heading and series of details about the coming auction, the poster describes the 18 enslaved persons to be sold in varying degrees of detail. It identifies the age of each of these persons and offers other details.
In his cartoon, Thomas W. Strong turns southern arguments in favor of slavery against the South. He creates an anti-secessionist message by depicting South Carolina as an enslaved woman (likely a reference to Topsey from Uncle Tom’s Cabin) incapable of making her own decisions.