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- Title
- John Caldwell Calhoun, 1782-1850
- Description
- Statesman, political philosopher., American Celebrities Album., Retrospective conversion record: original entry.
- Date
- ca. 1870
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department American Celebrities Album [(I)P.9100.14c]
- Title
- A confederacy against the Constitution and the rights of the people with an historical view of the component parts of this diabolical transaction
- Description
- Cartoon during the Bank War satirizing the Whig Party as greedy, anti-democratic, pro-Bank, pro-business infidels who worship in the Temple of Mammon to the false god of riches. Atop the temple, a white man, holding a flag inscribed "No Veto! The Bank! Down with Democracy!" kneels on a pedestal inscribed "Bank Candidate. War, Pestilence, and Famine." Within the temple sit symbolic and political figures including: the Devil representing the "Hartford Convention" of 1815, which debated Northern secession; the "High Church" as a clergyman pleading for donations to preach; the "High Priest" Henry Clay with his "U.S. Bank Book" sitting on his throne the "Chair of State"; the "High Chancellor," Bank of the United States president, Nicholas Biddle pouring out a bag of money to buy newspaper editors; a Northerner ("High Tarrif") discussing slavery, "You Southern Barons have black slaves will you not allow us to make white slaves of our poor population in our Manufacturing Baronies"; and southern pro-nullification senator John C. Calhoun ("No Tariff"), who bemoans his association with Whigs in his personal campaign against political rival Martin Van Buren. In the foreground, worshipers, including monkeys, pray and are chained near a printing press, pro-Bank newspapers, and flags and banners. The flags and banners denigrate "Jefferson," "democracy," and "equal rights" and support "high tariffs," the "merchant class," the "Bank of the United States," and "white slavery.", Title from item., Artist's initial lower left corner: H., Probably published by labor radical Seth Luther., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Lib. Company. Annual report, 2001, p. 27, 30., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., 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.
- Date
- [1833?]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1833-20 [5760.F.43]
- Title
- Senate chamber U.S.A. Conclusion of Clay's speech in defense of slavery
- Description
- Cartoon satirizing an 1839 anti-abolition speech by the congressional orator Henry Clay focusing on his conflicting views on the abolition of slavery. Clay, despite deploring the institution of slavery, was an enslaver who was against immediate national abolition. Depicts Clay, in front of the Mason-Dixon line, coming to an agreement with John Calhoun, his chief congressional rival and leading senatorial supporter of slavery, about the issue of slavery. They both stand on past abolitionist resolutions and a prostrate enslaved African American man who quotes a verse from the Bible's book of Micah 7:8 that he will "arise." Clay's remarks "North" of the line reflect his abolitionist rhetoric; those "South" of the line refer to him being an enslaver. Calhoun states his pleasure in Clay's awakening to the societal benefits of slavery., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Accessioned 1979., RVCDC, 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.
- Date
- [1839]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1839-24w [P.2275.18]
- Title
- Daniel Webster addressing the United States Senate In the great debate on the compromise measures 1850
- Description
- Commemorative print depicting Daniel Webster's noted "Seventh of March Speech" delivered in support of Henry Clay's proposed legislation to prevent Southern secession and to address the extension of slavery, known as the Compromise of 1850. The amended compromise, passed in September 1850, included the admittance of California as a free state and the strengthening of the Fugitive Slave Law in favor of the South. Shows the U.S. Senate chamber with Webster, in the right, standing with his right hand raised. Each Senator from 1850 is depicted facing toward Webster and the viewer, including Stephen Douglas (to the right of Webster), John C. Calhoun (seated in the left), Vice President Millard Fillmore (presiding at center), Secretary of the Senate Asbury Dickins (below Fillmore), Henry Clay (to the right of Webster’s upraised hand), and Jefferson Davis. White men and women spectators fill the visitors' galleries above. Fillmore and Dickins sit at raised desks, and behind them is a draped curtain. Above the valance is an American flag crest with arrows and a bald eagle with outstretched wings. A framed portrait of George Washington hangs in the center. Also visible is the coffered, domed ceiling and a chandelier., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1860 by James M. Edney in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York., 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.
- Date
- 1860
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC - Slavery [P.2002.2.2]
- Title
- Distinguished Americans, at a meeting of the New York Historical Society To whom this plate is by permission respectfully dedicated by Doney & Gollmann
- Description
- Group portrait of forty nine Americans gathered together at a meeting of the New York Historical Society in the University Chapel. Seen in the foreground, from left to right, are: George W. Bethune, Zadock Pratt, Francis L. Hawks, John E. Wool, Horatio Seymour, John W. Francis, Hamilton Fish, Winfield Scott, Jonathan M Wainwright, Daniel Webster, Samuel Jones, Franklin Pierce, William C. Bryant, Henry Clay, Edward Everett, Fred de Peyster, Luther Bradish, Martin Van Buren, George Bancroft, John Van Buren, William L. Marcy, and Lewis Cass. Another twenty seven men are seen in the background, including: Millard Fillmore, William H. Seward, John C. Calhoun and Valentine Mott. Each man wears a dark suit with a light shirt and tie. The men face in all directions; some look out toward the viewer and others turn to the side with no interaction among each other. Sitters portraits after painted portraits provided to the artist., Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1854 by Doney & Gollmann in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York., Gift of David Doret., LCP copy variant from copies at Library of Congress and American Antiquarian Society. Imprint varies and image does not include sitter Archbishop John Hughes., See David McNeely Stauffer, American engravers upon copper and steel, Vol. 1 (New York, 1907), 66., A key and description of the plate is included in the New York Historical Society Quarterly 38, 1954 , 458-459. Copy included with print. Description references Hughes missing from key, but not the image., Thomas Doney came to Canada from France, worked in Illinois and Ohio, and finally established himself in New York in 1845.
- Creator
- Doney, Thomas, fl. 1844-1852, engraver
- Date
- 1854
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **Portrait Prints/Photos - Group [P.2011.45.3]
- Title
- The great American steeple chase for 1844
- Description
- Cartoon depicting the presidential election of 1844 as a steeple chase race to the White House. Henry Clay, guided by the American eagle as he laments about the death of Harrison, leads the chase atop his half-horse/half-alligator mount. He is followed by: Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster, uneager to leave his cooking cauldron of "Chowder"; South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun, astride his "nullification Coota Turtle," which is stuck in a "Clay Bank"; former President Van Buren, on a fox, taking a "crooked and dirty" shortcut to avoid Calhoun; an "Old Solider," possibly James K. Polk attempting to "turn" his donkey to the "right way"; Richard M. Johnson, who has fallen off of his "old amalgamation nag," an allusion to his controversial multiracial wife; and a fallen man, possibly abolitionist Supreme Court Justice John McLean, wishing that he had a drop of "Democratic blood to let out." In the background, General Winfield Scott, astride a horse, and Commodore Charles Stewart, who sails a boat, discuss their lack of desire to be president. Inside the White House, Richard Tyler, a scroll inscribed "Irish Repeal" in his pocket, shakes and warns his sleeping father of the approaching "Philistines." Tyler responds smugly that he will be re-elected or "veto the whole concern," an allusion to his excessive use of the veto to stop the establishment of another national bank., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to an act of Congress in the year 1843 by H. R. Robinson in the clerk's office in the District court for the Sc District of N.Y., Artist's initial lower left corner., Publication information supplied by Reilly., LCP copy trimmed., Described in Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American political caricaturist in the Jacksonian era (PhD diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 249-50., Purchase 1958., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, lithographer
- Date
- 1843
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1843-8 [6264.F]
- 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]
- Title
- The people putting responsibility to the test or the downfall of the kitchen cabinet and collar presses
- Description
- Cartoon predicting the dire consequences to follow President Jackson's withdrawal of federal funds from the Bank of the United States. Depicts a riot in which Supreme Court Justice John Marshall warns that "the day of retribution is at hand" as anti-bank fiscal advisors Reuben Whitney and Thomas Ellicott use a rope to pull down a statue of Justice, depicted as a white woman holding scales and stepping on a snake, from a pedestal labeled "Constitution." An angry mob of white men farmers, laborers, and tradesmen carry instruments including axes, pitchforks, and shovels and papers labeled, “Broken Bank.” They fight and demand the recharter of the bank, shouting "Send back the deposites! Recharter the Bank!" and "Come back old responsibility." In the right, Jackson escapes on the back of "Jack Downing" cursing Postmaster General Kendall, "By the Eternal Major Downing; I find Ive been a mere tool to that Damn'd Amos [Kendall] and his set, the sooner I cut stick the better." In the left background, under "Senate Chamber," Henry Clay gloats to Daniel Webster and John Calhoun, "Behold Senators the fulfilment of my predictions." In the left foreground, two African American men, portrayed in racist caricature and speaking in the vernacular, predict freedom and the ascension to the throne of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, "Hurrah! for Massa Garison, den he shall be King!" A Jewish banker, portrayed in caricature, undercuts a sailor offering him a ten dollar bank note, "Mine Got that ish one of the Pet Bankhs I'll give you one Dollar for the Ten." In the right foreground, newspapers supportive of Jackson, "collar presses," symbolized as dogs with human heads labeled "Evening Post, N. York Standard, Journal of Commerce, Albany Argus," run away chained together., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York by T.W. Whitley in the year 1834, and for sale at 104 Broadway., RVCDC, 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., Whitley was a mid-19th-century New York landscape and figure painter who also wrote about art and drama for the New York Herald.
- Creator
- Whitley, T. W. (Thomas W.), artist
- Date
- 1834
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1834-7 [1884.F.3]
- Title
- All on hobbies, gee up, gee ho!
- Description
- Cartoon depicting the possible candidates for the presidential election of 1840, riding hobby horses symbolizing their issues. President Van Buren leads the pack cheering on his "old hickory nag," "Sub Treasury," named after his financial program, which allowed independent agencies to administer federal funds. Politicians following Van Buren include: bullionist Senator Thomas Hart Benton on "Specie Currency," his "golden poney" which carries "more weight than any of them"; Senators Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, leading opponents to Van Buren's fiscal policy, bickering over their shared horse named after the defunct "United States Bank"; South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun riding his "consistent" horse "State Rights and Nullification"; 1836 presidential nominee William Henry Harrison, attired in uniform, on his "Anti-Masonic" horse that keeps a "pretty easy pace" but may "lose his wind" if another scandal like the abduction and murder of mason William Morgan does not occur; and Congressman John Quincy Adams steering away from the group on his "Ebony" horse "Abolition.", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entd accordd to Act of Congress in the year 1838, by H.R. Robinson, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York., Artist's initial lower left corner., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Described in Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American political caricaturist of the Jacksonian era (PhD diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 205., Accessioned 1989., 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
- Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, lithographer
- Date
- 1838
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1838-1 [P.9249.8]
- Title
- Handicap race presidential stakes 1844
- Description
- Satire of the presidential election of 1844 depicting the potential candidates; Whig Henry Clay, and Democrats Martin Van Buren, Lewis Cass, John Calhoun, Richard M. Johnson, and John Tyler on various mounts racing for the White House. Clay riding a racoon leads the pack claiming that no one can overtake him. Van Buren follows riding a fox and holding a weather vane labeled "N" (North) and "S" (South) with the slogans "Free Trade Texas" and "Abolition Oregon" attached. He acknowledges that Lewis Cass is closing in. Cass on his hound gloats that he has finally overtaken the "old fox." Calhoun, positioned fourth, rides a lion with an enslaved African American man and child, portrayed in racist caricature, on his shoulders and bemoans his extra weight. Johnson, on foot and holding a hook, follows Calhoun stating he will "hook on" to whomever gets in. Last is Tyler, who switched political parties, trying to ride the two mounts of the "Loco Foco" (radical Democrats) donkey and the "Whig" horse., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in year 1844 by J. Childs in the Clerk's Office in the District Court of the Southern District of N.Y., Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1977., Lib. Company. Annual report, 1977, p. 51-52., RVCDC, 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Clay, born in Philadelphia, was a prominent caricaturist, engraver, and lithographer who created the "Life in Philadelphia" series which satirized middle-class African Americans of the late 1820s and early 1830s.
- Creator
- Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
- Date
- 1844
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political cartoons - 1844-55W [8366.F.36]
- Title
- Practical illustration of the fugitive slave law
- Description
- Antislavery print depicting a fight between Northern abolitionists and supporters of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. In the left, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and an African American man both raise guns to protect an enslaved African American woman who is attired in a head kerchief, earrings, a short-sleeved dress, and shoes. She raises both arms in the air and clutches a handkerchief in her right hand and exclaims “Oh Massa Garrison protect me!!!” Garrison wraps his right arm around her and says, “Don’t be alarmed, Susanna, you’re safe enough.” In the right, the white man mercenary, attired in a top hat with a star on it, who may represent the federal marshals or commissioners authorized by the act (and paid) to apprehend freedom seekers, carries a noose and shackles. He sits astride Secretary of State Daniel Webster, who is on his hands and knees clutching the Constitution and bemoaning, "This, though constitutional, is extremely disagreeable." Behind them a white man, possibly John C. Calhoun, declares "We will give these fellows a touch of Old South Carolina" and carries two volumes labeled "Law and Gospel." Another white man carries a quill and ledger and says "I goes in for Law & Order." In the background, a number of men on both sides fight. A white man lies on the ground on his back. An African American man grabs a white man enslaver by the head and holds a whip while saying “It’s my turn now Old Slave Driver.” A "Temple of Liberty" stands in the background with two flags flying which read, "A day, an hour, of virtuous Liberty is worth an age of Servitude," and "All men are created free and equal.", Title from item., Probable place and date of publication supplied by Reilly., Weitenkampf attributed this cartoon to the New York artist Edward Williams Clay, but Reilly refutes this attribution on the grounds that the draftsmanship, signature, and political opinions are atypical of Clay., Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., RVCDC, 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Date
- [1850 or 1851]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1851-6 [5760.F.104]

