Emancipation Proclamation (Issued January 1st, 1863)

Depicts President Lincoln in a patriotic pose against the backdrop of a calligraphically inscribed Emancipation Proclamation text. At the decorative apex, there is a naked, crouched black man so dehumanized he is relegated to the position of rigid symbol, alongside Columbia and the American eagle.Lincoln's pose had been used previously for an 1860 campaign print, that, in turn, had been copied from a print at least four years older portraying not Lincoln but John C. Fremont