President Lincoln, writing the Proclamation of Freedom

1862 - 1863
Library of Congress
Library of Congress

 

This lithograph of the famous painting by David Gilmour Blythe shows the artist's imaginative rendering of a pajama-clad Lincoln drafting the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln's hands rest on the Bible and the Constitution to demonstrate the moral justice and lawful necessity of issuing the Proclamation.