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Image: bibliographic info follows

TITLE:  Con-g-ss Embark'd on board the Ship Constitution of America bound to Conogocheque by way of Philadelphia.

CALL NUMBER:  PC/US - 1790.A000, no. 4 (A size) P&P

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:  LC-USZC4-4547 (color film copy transparency)
LC-USZ62-1552 (b&w film copy neg.)

SUMMARY:  In July 1790, Congress decided to move the seat of the federal government from its original site in New York to Washington, with Philadelphia as an interim capital. The unidentified satirist gives a cynical view of the profit opportunity which this presented for Philadelphians. A three-masted ship with a smaller boat in tow sails toward a fork in a river, lured by a devil toward the lower fork (eventually leading to Philadelphia), which falls precipitously in a rocky cataract, and away from the fork which leads to the "Potowmack" river. A devil beckons them on, saying, "This way Bobby" (referring to Robert Morris, the alleged instigator of the move). A man in the bow of the ship remarks of the figurehead, "This looks more like a goose than an eagle's head." Behind him another person says through a bullhorn, "Starboard your helm Coffer--don't you hear your friend on the Rock." Another passenger waves a hat and shouts "Huzza for Philadelphia." A man (possibly Morris) holding the helm says, "I will venture all for Philadelphia." On the boat in tow the following conversation is in progress: "Cut the Painter [tow line] as soon as you see the Ship in danger." "I wonder what could have induced the Controller to sign our Clearance." "Self gratification I suppose for it cannot be any advantage to the owner." "If they had come round in the S. Union the constitution would not have been lost." "They might have known that the Ship would have been in danger by comeing this way." "Ay, Ay, I had best do it [cut the rope] now for I believe she is going to the devil." Below the falls, three men in a dinghy say, "If we can catch the cargo never mind the Ship," "Keep a sharp look out for a mijority and the treasury," and "Ay, Ay that's what we are after."

MEDIUM:  1 print : Etching on laid paper; 20.4 x 32.6 cm (sheet, trimmed to within platemark on right and left edges)

CREATED/PUBLISHED:  [New York? : s.n.], 1790.

NOTES:
[New York?]

The print was probably produced in New York. Weitenkampf erroneously dates it 1798.

Munsing, no. 14

Weitenkampf, p. 12

Murrell, p. 47

Use surrogate: either electronic image or Reilly's American Political Prints, 1766-1876: A Catalog of the Collections in the Library of Congress book illustration.

Published in: Bernard F. Reilly, Jr., American Political Prints, 1766-1876: A Catalog of the Collections in the Library of Congress (Boston: G. K. Hall, 1991), entry 1790-1.

REPOSITORY:  Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID:  color film copy transparency 3g04547 cph
b&w film copy neg. 3a05343 app

VIDEO FRAME ID:  LCPP003A-05343 (b&w film copy neg.)

CARD #:  app94000668/PP


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