13th Amendment Congressional Signers Composite Albumen Photograph

13th Amendment Congressional Signers Composite Albumen Photograph - Inventory Number: ALB 318

This is a composite albumen photograph of the 13th Amendment Congressional Signers

The oval collage of politicians shows Vice President Hannibal Hamlin at the top, Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax at the center, and President Abraham Lincoln at the bottom. Surrounding them on the outer edges are images of the 38 Senators; the inner area shows the Congressmen. 

Amendment.

When the Amendment passed Congress, Schuyler Colfax signed the amendment as Speaker of the House, and Vice President Hannibal Hamlin signed it as the President of the Senate. Colfax considered February 1, 1865, the day he signed the House resolution, the happiest day of his life. Although he did not need to do so, President Abraham Lincoln added his approval and signature on February 1, making it the only successful amendment signed by a U.S. President.

This composite photograph was available as early as August 1865, when Powell was advertising for male and female “canvassers” to sell it, promising earnings as high as $125 to $200 per month. It became very popular as “The Great National Picture” and the “Anti-Slavery Constitutional Amendment Picture.” Hailed by The Liberator as “a triumph of art,” the editors insisted that it “should be framed by every loyal family.”

This composite photograph was still offered for sale at the National Fair in Washington, D.C. in June 1866. A local newspaper declared, “The likenesses are excellent, and as the picture is patented and not for sale at other places of resort in this city, it would be wise for all interested in it to avail themselves of this opportunity to secure a great national historical picture, interesting not for the present only but also for all time.” A Massachusetts newspaper praised it a few months later as “an elegant parlor ornament.”

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Inventory Number: ALB 318