The type of camera used to take this photograph is not known, but given the time period, it was likely a camera that used a “wet plate” negative process, an important development that allowed for a theoretically unlimited number of positive prints on paper. Despite the blurry, ghost-like features in the photograph, this method was considered fast at the time, requiring only a few seconds for exposure.
It was also taken at an interesting time in US history. The Civil War began just six week later, and by this point, seven states had already seceded from the Union. The atmosphere in Washington was tense, as rumors were swirling of an assassination plot against the newly elected president. During the swearing-in ceremony, Lincoln called for unity and expressed a desire to address the differences that divided the country.
My, how little political rhetoric has changed over the years.
I think this is the photo that included John Wilkes Booth on the balcony, ain’t it? He was Hollywood before Hollywood was created.
I’ll bet it was this camera.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e9lvcFlUBxM
I see Brian Williams.
Can you imagine talking to a crowd that big with no PA system?
Looks like George Clooney boycotted this one, too!
great piece of history … his second inaugural address was even better
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations”
John Wilkes Booth, along w/ several other conspirators, attended the second address
I saw a double cool photo several years ago from another angle that showed most of the co-conspirators in the crowd. Chilling.
Looks like they are still building the White House
I like the heck out of American History. We have been great, pretty sure we will be again. MAGA!!
Could you imagine a crowd that large, that
SILENT that you could hear the address. That
would have been worth the wait.
Hate to be that guy, but in the interest of accuracy that’s not the White House, it’s the Capitol.
^^^^^^^
HUH?
Almost certainly taken with a Petzval lens.
I used my a couple of weekends ago, but with orthochromatic film rather than wet plate. Mine was built in the 20’s but the design goes back to 1845 or so I think. There’s even a new version out there for digital cameras now.
It is the Capitol Bldg and important history that Lincoln spent the $$$ to build the dome during the expensive Civil War.
He had Union troops visit the site to be inspired.
“I need criticism from John Wilkes Booth like I need a hole in the head” – Abraham “Suspend Habeas Corpus & Jail Critical Newspaper Editors Without Trial” Lincoln
Abe Lincoln after a two week drunk
“I freed the who?”