Where's my thunder? [graphic].
Title
Where's my thunder?
Description
Cartoon comparing the Senate chamber with a courtroom to satirize the Senate's response to Henry Clay's controversial and long-debated Compromise of 1850. Depicts Webster stealing the "Fugitive Slave Act" out of the pocket of Clay, who snoozes at his desk in the Senate (an allusion to the Senate's predominately positive reception of abolitionist Senator Webster's controversial support of the Act). In the background, Senators scowl, nap, and look on in anguish, including Lewis Cass of Michigan and Henry S. Foote of Mississippi. Cass, proponent of popular sovereignty and the extension of slavery, exclaims "Ain't tha man done yet." Foote, who proposed a special committee to revise Clay's omnibus bill, brandishes a club (probably an allusion to his violent confrontation with rival Thomas Hart Benton over his proposal). Contains several lines of text describing the larceny trial of "Defendent" Webster and "Complainant" Clay, including "loud applause" during Webster's departure of the "Court-room" compared to Clay's scarcely noticed exit. Also contains note: "(See Police Report in the Daily Screamer).", Title from item., Date inferred from content., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., 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., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date
[1850?]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1850-3W [6691.F.]
The Clay compromise - a settler. [graphic]
Title
The Clay compromise - a settler
Description
Racist cartoon satirizing the Clay Compromise of 1850 concerning the extension of slavery to the territories. Depicts a prostrate enslaved African American man, portrayed in racist caricature, who is being pulled by ropes from each end by a Northerner and Southerner. The Northerner states, "We are content with the Compromise," and the Southerner states, "An equal division is fair." Standing over the enslaved man is Henry Clay, who is poised with a sword to cut him in two. William Lloyd Garrison rushes to stop Clay, stating "let the Union go; but spare the man!" A Quaker man confers with a minister about the compromise, saying "Well I'm very glad that Friend Clay has interfered." The minister responds that he hopes the question is settled because his parishioners have been quarreling so long that they almost forgot to pay him. A white man overseer about to whip a group of enslaved men, attired in yellow sarongs, exclaims, "Damn the niggers! Their hides are so used to the whip that they mind it no more than a horse.", Title from item., Date inferred from content., RVCDC, Purchase 1991., 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]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1850 - Cla [P.9314.3]
Daniel Webster addressing the United States Senate
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]
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]