The modern Colossus. Eighth wonder of the world PGA - Currier &... |
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Options: 1) Download Source Image from Library of Congress 2) If link above doesn't work, try alternate LOC link 3) Report broken link TITLE:The modern Colossus. Eighth wonder of the world CALL NUMBER:PGA - Currier & Ives--Modern colossus (B size) [P&P] REPRODUCTION NUMBER:LC-USZ62-1966 (b&w film copy neg.) SUMMARY:Martin Van Buren''s inability to bridge the distance between the "Conscience," or abolitionist, Whigs and conservative Democrats is portrayed as his downfall in the 1848 presidential race. Van Buren led the Free Soil party coalition of antislavery Whigs, Liberty party abolitionists, and "Barnburner" Democrats as a presidential candidate in that race, opposing regular Democratic candidate Lewis Cass. In "The Modern Colossus," Cass (far right) stands on the "Democratic Platform," a solid embankment, with running mate William O. Butler (in uniform, arms folded), South Carolina senator John C. Calhoun (behind Butler), and a fourth man, probably John Van Buren. An American eagle perches at their feet. Van Buren has one foot on the Democratic ledge and stretches the other across Salt River toward the eroding "Whig-Abolition Platform." Calhoun: "Poor devil! he''ll plump into Salt River, directly." Cass: "That will be no hardship. He was in Salt River before. He only goes back to his old place." From the left New York "Tribune" editor Horace Greeley (long coat) and fiery antislavery advocate Abby Folsom reach out toward Van Buren. Folsom: "Come to these arms, thou chiefest of ten thousand!" Greeley: "Oh! that his legs were a little longer!" Behind Greeley are Massachusetts abolitionist and Van Buren running mate Charles Francis Adams, and (far left) a third man (possibly William Lloyd Garrison) who exclaims, "O Lordy! Lordy! I''m afeared he [Van Buren] can''t fetch it." Van Buren, indeed about to fall, exclaims, "O! I''m gone! I''m gone! I can''t stretch myself asunder!" In the distance is a smoking volcano. MEDIUM:1 print on wove paper : lithograph ; image 29.7 x 42.5 cm. CREATED/PUBLISHED:[New York] : Pub. by Peter Smith [i.e., Nathaniel Currier], 2 Spruce St., N.Y., c1848. CREATOR: N. Currier (Firm) NOTES: Title from item. Entered ... 1848 by Peter Smith ... The Library''s impression of "The Modern Colossus" was deposited for copyright on October 2, 1848. DLC Currier & Ives : a catalogue raisonné / compiled by Gale Research. Detroit, MI : Gale Research, c1983, no. 4529 Weitenkampf, p. 90 Lorant, p. 195 Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1848-56. TOPICS: Abolitionism and abolitionists, parodied or attacked. FORMAT: Political cartoons 1840-1850. REPOSITORY:Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA DIGITAL ID:(b&w film copy neg.) cph 3a05707 CONTROL #:2003674558
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