Henry S. Sadd
Union

Public Domain

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Artist Henry S. Sadd (English, active c. 1832– c. 1852)English, active c. 1832– c. 1852

Artistafter Tompkins H. Matteson(American, 1813–1884)American, 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

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

PRINTS

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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