Emancipation Proclamation - White House Collection

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Side Chair, ca. 1846

J. and J. W. Meeks (ca. 1836-1855), New York

Walnut/Walnut Veneer/Oak

This black walnut side chair, originally made by J. and J. W. Meeks, is part of a set used in the Cabinet Room for several decades. Most notably, the chairs appear in Francis Bicknell Carpenter’s painting First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln. Carpenter lived at the White House for six months in 1864, basing his painting off conversations and sittings with President Lincoln and observations of the furnishings and interiors there. A great supporter of the president and his choice to end slavery, Carpenter considered the first reading of the Proclamation “a scene second only in historical importance…to that of the Declaration of Independence.” As a result, he wrote in his memoir that he “endeavor[ed], as faithfully as possible, to represent the scene as it actually transpired; room, furniture, accessories, all were to be painted from the actualities.” The final painting, approved by President Lincoln, features Lincoln and his cabinet seated in the black walnut chairs—artifacts and witnesses to one of the most important moments in White House history.

White House Historical Association

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Watch Meeting—December 31st 1862—Waiting for the Hour, 1863

William Tolman Carlton (1816-1888)

Oil on Canvas

William Tolman Carlton’s painting depicts a group of enslaved people gathering to countdown together before the Emancipation Proclamation officially took effect at midnight on January 1, 1863. The work itself is highly symbolic. The title of the piece is written on chains; a copy of the Proclamation and the American flag are visible on either side of the group; and an anchor, a symbol of hope, hangs off the pocket watch at center. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison gifted a copy of this painting to President Lincoln in 1864, paid for by subscribers of his antislavery newspaper, The Liberator. Lincoln called the piece a “spirited and admirable painting.”

Today, the painting in the White House Collection is an unsigned, undated version of that piece. It hangs in the Lincoln Bedroom.

White House Collection/White House Historical Association

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About this Gallery

The fight for emancipation throughout the antebellum era is also represented in the White House Collection.