Portrait Gallery

Scurrilous Attacks

“Seated in a chair with his hand over his face, a clearly distraught Johnson lets a copy of conservative Whig James Watson Webb's New York Courier and Inquirer fall to the floor and moans, ‘When I read the scurrilous attacks in the Newspapers on the Mother of my Children, pardon me, my friends if I give way to feelings!!! Mydear Girls, bring me your Mother's picture, that I may shew it to my friends here.’” — A.C.M.

Pickle! Pop!! and Ginger!!!

“On the far right are his daughters, Imogene and Adaline. Visibly brownskinned, they wear elegant dresses with puffed sleeves, stockings, shoes, and earrings. Their hair is swept into ‘updos,” and one carries a handkerchief. The other holds a painting of a dark-skinned Black woman wearing a traditional African or West Indian head wrap and says, ‘Here it is Pa, but don't take on so.’ The second daughter says, ‘Poor dear Pa, how much he is affected.’ A man standing behind them, likely meant to represent a less-educated westerner who reveres Richard for his war record, exclaims, ‘Pickle! Pop!! and Ginger!!! Can the slayer of Tecumseh be thus overcome like a summer cloud! fire and furies. oh!’ — A.C.M.

Julia Chinn

“It's … telling that the illustrator portrayed Julia as a dark-skinned, turban-wearing ‘other,’ someone who wasn't from here, although by all accounts she was nativeborn and brown-skinned at best, referred to as a quadroon or octoroon by many due to the lightness of her skin color.” — A.C.M.

An Abolitionist

“The white abolitionist has a comforting hand on Richard's shoulder. Holding a copy of the Emancipator out of Hartford, Connecticut, under his left arm, a newspaper sponsored by the abolitionist Lewis Tappan of New York City, the man says, ‘Be comforted Richard; all of us abolitionists will support thee.’ — A.C.M.

A Postmaster

On the far left is a portly postmaster who, remembering Richard's faithfulness during the Sunday Mails Battle, states, ‘Your Excellency, I am sure all of us Postmasters and deputies will stick to you; if you promise to keep us in office.” — A.C.M.

A Gentleman of Colour

“The free Black man, in the dialect that all Black people were assumed to speak in, pledges ‘de honor of a Gentlemen dat all de Gentlemen of Colour will support you.’” — A.C.M.

The Library of Congress comments on the date of this print:

“The print seems to date from early in the campaign of 1836. Johnson's wife Julia Chinn died in 1833. Adaline, one of the two daughters pictured, died in February 1836. Although Weitenkampf dates the print at 1840, when Johnson was again Van Buren's running-mate, the presence of both daughters and the drawing style are persuasive evidence for an 1836 date.”