Extremely Rare Henry Clay Campaign Parade Flag With Portrait
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Extremely Rare Henry Clay Campaign Parade Flag With Portrait
About the Item
26 star American parade flag, printed on cotton, made for the 1844 campaign of Henry Clay. Clay’s portrait appears inside a wreath of oak leaves and acorns, which is encircled by a gear cog. Outside this is a wreath of 22 stars, with a flanking star in each corner of the brilliant, royal blue canton. Printed within the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th white stripes are the words “Clay and Frelinghuysen”.
Clay’s campaign focused on the creation of a national currency, promotion of agriculture, and protection of American industry through such devices as protective tariffs. The gear in the canton represents the importance of the advancement of America into the industrial age and less reliance on foreign goods. As it turned out, this issue was not as important to Americans as westward expansion, which was the platform of the successful presidential candidate, James Polk.
It is interesting to note that a nearly identical 1844 flag exists with Polk’s portrait in the canton instead of Clay’s. Polk’s running mate, George M. Dallas, a Philadelphia-born attorney and Princeton graduate, also supported the expansionist platform. Dallas County, Texas, was afterwards named for the vice president (though the origin of the name of the City of Dallas is a subject of some controversy; it had reportedly been called Dallas as early as 1842). Though Texas would not become a state until 1845, a larger star was added to the Polk version of this parade flag, just outside the canton, to represent Polk’s staunch support for Texas statehood.
The Polk flag could, in fact, be a mockery of the Clay flag, ordered shortly afterward from the same maker. This is evidenced not only by the additional star modification, and also by the existence of fewer Polk versions of this flag, and fewer Polk flags of any kind in general. Only two Polk versions are documented in Threads of History (Collins, 1979, Smithsonian Press), as opposed to nine Clay versions, plus many Clay banners and other textiles. Since fewer political flags have typically survived from loser candidates (because they were discarded), it stands to reason that there should be fewer surviving examples from Henry Clay than there are for James Polk, but this is not the case. So it is probable that very few Polk flags were made, and possible that those that exist were ordered in response to the presence of so many Clay flags. This is simply a theory, however, as both Polk and Clay flags are extremely rare, and their numbers do not offer enough evidence to draw a hard conclusion.
It is interesting to note that the 1844 election was the first in which an incumbent president, John Tyler, sought nomination and didn’t get it, which made Polk the Democrat’s dark horse nominee. It is also interesting that Joseph Smith, who founded the Mormon Church in 1847, was the third candidate. No flags or textiles are known to exist from the Smith campaign.
The 26 star flag became official on July 3rd, 1837, after the addition of Michigan. It remained the official star count until 1845. The earliest known parade flags have either 26 or 13 stars, and were made within this 8-year period. Parade flags do exist from the 1840 campaign of William Henry Harrison, and while the Clay/Polk campaign was four years later, in 1844, this still means the Henry Clay campaign flags, while not the first, are still among the earliest printed parade flags known to exist. Both the Clay and Polk versions of this example are uncommonly large for printed flags, and are also among the very best examples from a folk art perspective, with their bold, rather funky, wreathed portraitures, fanciful star patterns, and elongated proportions.
Biographical Information on Clay and Frelinghuysen: Henry Clay was born in Virginia on April 12th, 1777, about 2 months before the Stars & Stripes was adopted as the American national flag (June 14th). He studied law at Richmond and moved to Kentucky to practice. In 1806, Clay became a U.S. Senator, even though he was actually younger than 30 years old, the minimum age by constitutional law. This was the beginning of a nearly uninterrupted 46-year term in the House and Senate, where he served as both Speaker and Chairman, respectively. He also served as Secretary of State for John Quincy Adams. Clay ran unsuccessfully for the presidency three times. He ran as a Democratic Republican in 1824, then as a National Republican in 1832, and as a Whig in 1844. He afterwards returned to the Senate, which he served until his death in 1852.
Theodore Frelinghuysen was born in Franklin, NJ in 1787. Before he ran for vice president, he was an attorney, then a U.S. Senator serving New Jersey, then Mayor of Newark, then Chancellor of New York University. In 1850 he became President of Rutgers College, and remained in that position until his death in 1862. His grandson was Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Mounting: The flag has been hand-stitched to 100% cotton, black in color. The cotton was washed to remove excess dye, and an acid-free agent was added to the wash to further set the dye. The flag was then placed in a gilded, French molding of exceptional quality. The front is U.V. protective acrylic.
Condition: There is minor to moderate foxing and staining, and very minor fabric loss, but the flag is in an excellent state of preservation for the period and presents tremendously well.
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1844
- Condition:see description.
- Seller Location:York County, PA
- Reference Number:Seller: 26j-8151stDibs: U1102218497332
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