Edward Dalton Marchant

[2] Marchant began an early, peripatetic career by late 1826 advertising his services in a Charleston, South Carolina newspaper, but returned to Edgartown in 1828-1829.

[1] An ardent opponent of slavery who advocated for the return of slaves to Africa,[3] Marchant was commissioned by the Union League of Philadelphia in December 1862 to paint a portrait of Abraham Lincoln to be displayed in Independence Hall.

[2] Marchant worked in the White House for several months in early 1863, having daily contact with the President,[3] and ultimately depicted him seated at a table having just signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Marchant said that his painting "triumphantly gives lie to those hideous caricatures of Mr. Lincoln" which were at the time widely circulated in the hostile press.

[2] Authorized reproductions of Marchant's somewhat idealized portrait were widely circulated prior to the 1864 presidential election, and printed at a rate of 1,000 per day.