The great American What is it? chased by Copper-heads – Vintage Wall Art
![The great American What is it? chased by Copper-heads, [Boston] ; 1863. — antique lithograph](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/8a/8ab8af6bcada-L.webp)
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
The great American What is it? chased by Copper-heads comes to life in this antique lithograph, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.
Choose the framed print, ready to hang the day it arrives, or the unframed print for a frame of your own. It brings character to any room and makes a memorable gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.
The great American What is it? chased by Copper-heads
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Rather than a battlefield or a portrait, this 1863 Boston lithograph turns the wartime fight over slavery into a chase. A figure labeled "The great American What is it?" flees a pack of Copperheads, the nickname for Northern Peace Democrats who opposed the war. The cartoon's subject list names the people it draws on: Abraham Lincoln, Ambrose Burnside, Clement Vallandigham, Henry A. Wise, and John Brown, whom Wise's Virginia government tried and executed in 1859. The racist caricature at the center of the image reflects the crude stereotypes common in wartime political satire.
| Created / published | [Boston] ; 1863. |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 print : lithograph on wove paper ; 23.9 x 31.4 cm. (image) |
| Genre | Lithographs 1860-1870.Political cartoons 1860-1870. |
| Notes | Entered . . . 1863 by E.W.T. Nichols . . . Mass. The Library's impression of the work was deposited for copyright on June 30, 1863. Title appears as it is written on the item. Weitenkampf, p. 138. Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress) Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1863-8. |
| Subjects | Brown, John,--1800-1859. Burnside, Ambrose Everett,--1824-1881. Lincoln, Abraham,--1809-1865. Vallandigham, Clement L. (Clement Laird),--1820-1871. Wise, Henry A. (Henry Alexander),--1806-1876. United States. Constitution--1860-1870. African Americans--1860-1870. Devil--1860-1870. Virginia--1860-1870. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,536 × 1,151 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-161028 |
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