Skip to main content

Alexander Hamilton Stephens

Alexander Hamilton Stephens
Artist
Frederich Graetz, c. 1840 - c. 1913
Sitter
Alexander Hamilton Stephens, 11 Feb 1812 - 4 Mar 1883
Date
1882
Type
Print
Medium
Chromolithograph on paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 33.5 x 25.7 cm (13 3/16 x 10 1/8")
Mat: 45.7 × 35.6 cm (18 × 14")
Topic
Printed Material\Document
Costume\Dress Accessory\Eyeglasses\Pince-nez
Home Furnishings\Blanket
Vehicle\Wheelchair
Alexander Hamilton Stephens: Male
Alexander Hamilton Stephens: Law and Crime\Lawyer
Alexander Hamilton Stephens: Journalism and Media\Newspaper publisher
Alexander Hamilton Stephens: Politics and Government\US Congressman\Georgia
Alexander Hamilton Stephens: Politics and Government\Governor\Georgia
Alexander Hamilton Stephens: Politics and Government\State Legislator\Georgia
Alexander Hamilton Stephens: Politics and Government\Confederate Vice President
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.84.105
Exhibition Label
Born near Crawfordville, Georgia
As vice president of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens held a position that he considered beneath his political talents, and he quickly grew frustrated in the job. In 1863 he tried—unsuccessfully—to negotiate prisoner-of-war exchanges with federal authorities. In February 1865, during a peace negotiation with President Abraham Lincoln—a venture doomed to fail from the start—he prevailed successfully upon Lincoln, an old Whig Party friend, to win the release of his nephew from a Union prison. After the war, Stephens spent five months in a northern prison. Between 1873 and 1882 he served in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected governor of Georgia. Plagued by ill health for most of his adult life, Stephens died at the start of his governorship. This lithograph, which appeared in Puck magazine, depicts the ailing congressman in 1882.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view