Smithsonian American Art Museum Has Collection Online—Seward’s Purchase Of Alaska
Internet users are able to view much of the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Look at the middle of the right hand side of the link I provide above.
The print at the top of this post is titled Secretary Seward Buys Alaska.
This work was completed in 1973 by Warrington Colescott.
Secretary of State William Seward is buying Alaska from the Russians in this painting while a cast of characters look on.
Animals are looking on as well.
Nobody seems to be up to any good. Even the animals seem to have an angle.
Here is a picture of the check used to purchase Alaska in 1868. This took place during the administration of President Andrew Johnson.
Here are some facts on the Alaskan Purchase from the Alaskan Humanties Forum.
Here is the link to the Seward House Museum in Auburn, New York.
The Smithsonian provides an excellent resource by making this art so easily available to the general public.
There is so much to learn and understand if we take the time to do so.
Considering a work of art can lead us to any number of subjects to study, and to discoveries and reflections about history and public life and about our own lives as well.
Many Presidents Have Died Early In Their Terms—President Palin
When a President has died in office, it has often been quite early in his term. This has often made a big difference in American history.
This is the Texas Liberal Election Fact of the Day.
The first President to die in office, William Henry Harrison, expired just a month into his term. Harrison died in 1841. President Harrison, at 68 the oldest President to that point, was a Whig. His Vice President, John Tyler, was a representative of the Southern planter class picked to help balance the ticket and not in full agreement with the Whig mainstream. As President, Tyler pursued policies, such a veto of a national bank, that greatly distressed Whig leaders such as Henry Clay.
President Zachary Taylor passed on in 1850 after serving just 17 months of his term. He was succeeded by Millard Filmore.
Abe Lincoln’s (above)1865 assassination occurred just a month into his second term. His Vice President, Andrew Johnson (below), who had not been Lincoln’s first term VP, had very different views than Lincoln on Reconstruction, and how the South and Southerners should be handled after the Civil War.
Here is a stark difference between the person elected President and the person elected Vice President. The United States got one month of a great President and just under four years of a terrible President. And black folks got a century of Jim Crow.
James Garfield was shot in the first year of his term in 1881. He died a few months later. Garfield’s successor, Chester Arthur, might well have been an improvement. President Arthur sought Civil Service reform and was surprisingly independeant despite a reputation as a machine politician.
William McKinley was shot and killed in the first year of his second term in 1901. McKinley’s Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, who like Andrew Johnson had not been the first term VP, was a very different man than McKinley.
Franklin Roosevelt was shot at in 1933 in the time between his election and inauguration. Roosevelt’s Vice President-elect, John Nance Garner was far more conservative than F.D.R. You might never of had a New Deal if Garner had become President instead of Roosevelt.
Roosevelt would later die in the first weeks of his fourth term. Vice President Harry Truman who had not been VP in the first three F.D.R terms, took the White House and did a pretty good job.
Also, Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously wounded in his first year as President in 1981.
Let’s say you are less than a hardcore Republican, yet are still considering voting for 72 year old John McCain. American history shows us that you may feel you’re voting for Mr. McCain, but that what you really may get is President Sarah Palin.