Henry S. Sadd
Union

Union

Public Domain

Union
ArtistEnglish, active c. 1832– c. 1852
ArtistAmerican, 1813–1884
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Union
Date1852
PlaceNew York, United States
MediumEngraving on wove paper, first state
DimensionsPlate: 19 5/8 × 26 1/2 in. (49.8 × 67.3 cm)
 Sheet: 23 3/4 × 30 in. (60.3 × 76.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by Phyllis and Charles Tucker
Object numberB.90.2
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
DescriptionThis print commemorates the Compromise of 1850, its title reflecting the hope that it would help preserve the union as the United States drifted toward the Civil War. The compromise included a group of laws that sought to address the balance of power between free and slave states, with California joining the union as a free state and the organization of the Utah and New Mexico territories from land ceded by Mexico after the Mexican-American War. The compromise did not address the future of slavery in the territories; presumable it would be decided later by popular sovereignty. Part of the compromise was the much-hated Fugitive Slave Act, which made it easier for enslavers to recover their human property.
Provenance[The Philadelphia Print Shop, Philadelphia]; purchased by MFAH, 1990.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed below image, left: PAINTED BY T. H. MATTESON
Inscribed below image, right: ENGRAVED BY H. S. SADD. 1852. / PRINTED BY W. PATE
Inscribed below image, center: UNION. / Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1852 by Augustus W. Seaton in the Clerks Office of the U. S. District Court, for the Southern District of New York
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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