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Lot Essay
Robert Jefferson Breckinridge (1800-1871) was a leader of the Kentucky Emancipation Party in 1849 and a Union supporter at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. This pitcher was presented to him for his support of President Lincoln at the Republican National Convention of 1864.
A strong advocate for the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln, Breckinridge served as temporary chairman of the “Union National Convention” at Baltimore in June of 1864. At the event, Breckinridge delivered a speech to much applause, advocating for the abolition of slavery and proclaiming that "the man that you will nominate here for the Presidency of the United States, and ruler of a great people in a great crisis, is just as certain, I suppose, to become that ruler as anything under heaven is certain before it is done . . . . Does any man doubt that this Convention intends to say that Abraham Lincoln shall be the nominee?" (C. W. Johnson, Proceedings of the First Three Republican National Conventions of 1856, 1860, 1864, Minneapolis, 1893).
Robert Jefferson Breckinridge's politically active family was tragically split during the Civil War when his two elder sons, Joseph and Charles, fought for the Union cause, while his two younger sons, Willie and Robert Jr., fought for the Confederacy. Appropriately enough, this pitcher, which by family tradition was personally presented to Breckinridge by Abraham Lincoln, was inherited by the eldest son, a Union supporter.
A strong advocate for the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln, Breckinridge served as temporary chairman of the “Union National Convention” at Baltimore in June of 1864. At the event, Breckinridge delivered a speech to much applause, advocating for the abolition of slavery and proclaiming that "the man that you will nominate here for the Presidency of the United States, and ruler of a great people in a great crisis, is just as certain, I suppose, to become that ruler as anything under heaven is certain before it is done . . . . Does any man doubt that this Convention intends to say that Abraham Lincoln shall be the nominee?" (C. W. Johnson, Proceedings of the First Three Republican National Conventions of 1856, 1860, 1864, Minneapolis, 1893).
Robert Jefferson Breckinridge's politically active family was tragically split during the Civil War when his two elder sons, Joseph and Charles, fought for the Union cause, while his two younger sons, Willie and Robert Jr., fought for the Confederacy. Appropriately enough, this pitcher, which by family tradition was personally presented to Breckinridge by Abraham Lincoln, was inherited by the eldest son, a Union supporter.