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Columbia's noblest Son's.
   
Complete Explanation:
One of the grander prints produced to exploit the great outpouring of national devotion to the martyred President following his assassination in April 1865. As in "National Picture" (no. 1865-7) Lincoln is compared to George Washington. Columbia, in classical garb and wearing a Phrygian cap, crowns the founder and the preserver of the Union with twin laurel wreaths. On the left are small scenes from the Revolution--the Boston Tea Party, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the British surrender at Yorktown. On the right, near Lincoln, are images of the Civil War--the bombardment of Fort Sumter, an encounter between an ironclad and two wooden ships (entitled "Progress"), and Lincoln's triumphant arrival in Richmond.

Documents associated with the Washington and Lincoln, the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation, appear below their portraits. Liberty's right foot rests on the British lion, and an American eagle emerges from behind her other leg. On the ground are the stilled cannons of war and the broken shackles of slavery.


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