Focus on First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln and discuss the Composition.
The setting of the painting is Lincoln's office, which also served as the Cabinet Room; it is now known as the Lincoln Bedroom. Lincoln indicated to Carpenter each person's position in the room on the day of the first reading. The artist had found the placement "fortunately entirely consistent with my purpose." Carpenter intentionally avoided, as he wrote, "imaginary curtain or column, gorgeous furniture or allegorical statue." Shown from left to right are Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War (seated); Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury (standing); Lincoln; Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy (seated); Caleb Blood Smith, Secretary of the Interior (standing); William H. Seward, Secretary of State (seated); Montgomery Blair, United States Postmaster General (standing); and Edward Bates, United States Attorney General (seated). Portraits of Simon Cameron and Andrew Jackson adorn the wall behind them.Carpenter said, "There were two elements in the Cabinet—the radical and the conservative. Mr. Lincoln was placed at the head of the official table, between two groups, nearest that representing the radical; but the uniting point of both. The chief powers of a government are War and Finance: the ministers of these were at his right—the Secretary of War, symbolizing the great struggle, in the immediate foreground; the Secretary of the Treasury, actively supporting the new policy, standing by the President’s side.... To the Secretary of State, as the great expounder of the principles of the Republican party... would the attention of all at such a time be given.... The ... chief officers of the government were thus brought in accordance with their relations to the administration, nearest the person of the President, who, with the manuscript proclamation in his hand, which he had just read, was represented leaning forward, listening to, and intently considering the views presented by the Secretary of State."The map shown at the bottom right corner of the painting is a map made by the US Coast Survey in 1861 by using census data from 1860, and shows the relative prevalence of slavery in Southern counties that year.
Secretary of War William H. Seward Secretary of the Navy Secretary of State Edward Bates United States Postmaster General Gideon Welles Simon Cameron Caleb Blood Smith Edwin M. Stanton Secretary of the Interior United States Attorney General Montgomery Blair Lincoln Bedroom Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase painting Andrew Jackson