Details
Creator Lawson, Alexander, 1773-1846 engraver.
Contributor Rider, Alexander, ill.
Title View of the Capitol of the United States after the conflagration in 1814 [graphic] / Alex Rider del. ; Alex Lawson sc.
Publisher Philadelphia: Designed and published by J. Torrey, Jun
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1817
Date 1817
Physical Description 1 print: engraving; image 13 x 20 cm. (5.25 x 7.75 in)
Description Engraving is set in 1815 in Washington, DC, where a group of bound slaves passes in front of the burned-out Capitol building en route to Georgia. Two allegorical figures, one of whom represents Liberty, float on a smoke cloud above the building. The frontispiece relates to Torrey's musings as to whether "the Sovereign Father of all nations" permitted the burning of the Capitol as a "fiery, though salutary signal of his displeasure at the conduct of his Columbian children, in erecting and idolizing this splendid fabric as the temple of freedom, and at the same time oppressing with the yoke of captivity and toilsome bondage, twelve of fifteen hundred of their African brethren (by logical induction), making merchandise of their blood, and dragging their bodies with iron chains, even under its towering walls." Torrey then commented, "Yet it is a fact, that slaves are employed in rebuilding this sanctuary of liberty."
Is part of Torrey, Jesse, fl. 1787-1834. Portraiture of domestic slavery. Philadelphia: Published by the author. John Bioren, printer, 1817.
Notes Frontispiece for Jesse Torrey's A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery, in the United States (Philadelphia: Published by the author. John Bioren, printer, 1817).
Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Images from the Slave Trade.
Subject United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.)
Slave labor -- Washington (D.C.)
Slave trade -- Washington (D.C.)
Genre Allegorical prints -- 1810-1820.
Engravings -- 1810-1820.
Anti-slavery prints -- 1810-1820.
Frontispieces -- 1810-1820.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Books & Other Texts | Rare | Am 1817 Tor 4875.O frontispiece
Accession number 4875.O