The United States Senate A.D. 1850
Title
The United States Senate A.D. 1850
Description
Proof of commemorative print depicting Henry Clay introducing his legislation known as the Compromise of 1850 to the Senate. The legislation aimed to prevent Southern secession and to address the extension of slavery into the territories. Depicts Clay, at the center of the Senate floor, standing with his right arm out from his side and addressing his fellow legislators that surround him, including Vice-President Millard Fillmore seated on a platform as President of the Senate; Daniel Webster, seated behind him and resting his head in his hand; and John C. Calhoun standing beside the seated Fillmore. The gallery is filled with white men and women spectators., Title from item., Date from copyright statement on copy in the collections of the Library of Congress: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by John M. Butler and Alfred Long, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania., Text printed on recto: This engraving from the original picture is respectfully dedicated to the people of the United States by the publishers., Key to engraving in collections of the Library of Congress cites other sitters depicted including Thomas H. Benton, Lewis Cass, William H. Seward, William L. Dayton, Stephen A. Douglas, and Salmon P. Chase., Gift of David Doret, 2002., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator
Whitechurch, Robert, 1814-approximately 1880, engraver
Date
[1855]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***GC - Slavery [P.2002.26]
A Correct chart of Salt River [graphic] / Prepared by Father Ritchie.
Title
A Correct chart of Salt River
Description
"Salt River," the fictitious river of political doom, is charted here as a meandering stream of Democratic misfortunes. The chart was purportedly "prepared by Father Ritchie," i.e., Democratic editor and Polk administration spokesman Thomas Ritchie. Swipes are taken at the Tariff of 1846, Polk's Vice President George M. Dallas, Martin Van Buren, and 1848 Democratic presidential nominee Lewis Cass. The river winds upward from the Ohio River (Ohio was a Democratic stronghold in 1848) to the Lake of Oblivion with an island on which sits the "Mansion of Despair." The "Fast Sailing Steamer Free Trade," captained by Lewis Cass and piloted by Ritchie, sets out on the "Slough of Despond" below (one of the landmarks in John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress). The ship approaches a fork, from which the "Old Fox Branch" on the right leads to "Cabbage Point" and the home of Martin Van Buren. Van Buren can be seen sitting in a rowboat on the river complaining, "Hard work this all; your fault 'John, ' with your D--d Free Trade." His son John, a Free Soil party leader and campaigner, encouraged Van Buren's bid for the party's presidential nomination in 1848. On the left Salt River continues past the "Sub Treasury Bluffs," "Noise and Confusion Shoals," "Two Face Points," and "Irish Relief Shoal" (a reference to Democratic support for anti-British insurgents in Ireland), to another fork, "Prince John's Creek." Here John Van Buren walks along the shore and calls, "Good bye Dad! We could not Gull the People." The main branch of the river continues to "Pillow's Cemetery" (named after Gen. Gideon Pillow, conspirator against popular Mexican War commander Winfield Scott and a friend of James K. Polk), "One Seal Island", "Casting Vote Point," and "St Anna Pass." The last is named after Mexican president and commander Santa Anna, whom the Polk administration returned from exile only to see him lead the war against the Americans. On Lake Oblivion is a small ferry boat heads toward the shore at upper right where it will connect with a train named "Tariff [of 18]42," bound for Washington. On the left is a funerary monument "In Memory of Dallas," a memorial to Vice President and former Pennsylvania senator George M. Dallas. Many of Dallas's fellow Pennsylvanians viewed him as a traitor to the state's interests in his support of the Tariff of 1846, which supplanted the popular 1842 tariff., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Library copy has manuscript written on lower right recto: March 5th, 1849., Retrospective conversion record: original entry.
Date
[1848]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1848-50 [P.2275.28]