NATIONAL BIRTH-NIGHT BALL. UNDER THE SPECIAL PATRONAGE OF MRS. POLK, MRS. MADISON, MRS. ADAMS, MRS. HAMILTON. THE HONOR OF CAPT LOWNDES COMPANY IS REQUESTED AT JACKSON HALL, ON THE EVENING OF THE 22D FEBRUARY, 1848. MANAGERS. HON. GEORGE M. DALLAS, HON. ROBERT J. WALKER, HON. CAVE JOHNSON. . .
[Washington DC: 1848]. Broadside, 7-1/8" x 12-1/4." "Capt Lowndes" is written, the rest is printed. Half length round Portrait of George Washington [after a lithograph by G. & W. Endicott of New York], with Washington's facsimile signature beneath it. A list of one hundred five managers of the Ball beneath the portrait, including members of the Board of Managers of the Washington Monument Society. Old folds, light wear, one small hole without affecting text. Very Good.
The Washington National Monument Society was founded in 1833 by James Madison, John Marshall, and others. The Daily National Intelligencer announced that the Board of Managers of the Monument Society expected to lay the cornerstone of the Monument on 22 February 1848, and had proposed scheduling "a Grand Birth-Night Ball, the proceeds of which are to be given to the funds for the erection of the Monument." It was touted to be "the greatest entertainment which has ever taken place in Washington... " [Buffalo Post] .
But on 21 February, John Quincy Adams suffered a stroke which, two days later, killed him. Rescheduled to 1 March 1848, the Ball was attended by the President, his Cabinet, Congressmen, and many public officers. The list of Managers included prominent attendees such as Daniel Webster, Jefferson Davis, Stephen A. Douglas, Lewis Cass, and Sam Houston.
Abraham Lincoln, newly elected Illinois Congressman who had recently arrived in Washington, attended as one of two Illinois Managers of the Ball [Stephen Douglas being the other]. Despite the presence of so many luminaries, the event "was numerically a failure, - There was a feast for a thousand, and not half this number of partakers". [Daily National Intelligencer, 20 January 1848, page 3 and 29 February 1848, page 3; "Correspondence of the N.Y. Express, Washington, Feb. 20", Buffalo Post, 24 February 1848, page 2; The Weekly Telegraph, 14 March 1848, page 2; Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 7 March 1848, page 2. "Congressman Lincoln's Social Contacts in Washington, D.C. (December 6, 1847-March 4, 1849)", LINCOLN LORE BULLETIN, NUMBER 1524, February, 1965, Fort Wayne IN: Lincoln National Life Foundation, page 2.]
The Monument's cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1848. But its construction was not an easy enterprise. Perhaps the low attendance was a harbinger of future disappointments. Nearly forty years elapsed until the Monument's completion. Construction was interrupted from 1854 to 1877. Lack of funds, the Civil War, and bureaucratic squabbling caused substantial delays.
OCLC locates only the copy at AAS. Virginia Tech also owns a copy. Not found at the Library of Congress, Huntington, Franklin, Boston Athenaeum, NYPL. Not in Sabin, Haynes, Eberstadt. Item #42313
Price: $7,500.00