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c. 1774, LIBERTY TRIUMPHANT: or the Downfall of OPPRESSION., by Henry Dawkins

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:18,000.00 USD Estimated At:22,000.00 - 26,000.00 USD
c. 1774, LIBERTY TRIUMPHANT: or the Downfall of OPPRESSION., by Henry Dawkins
American Revolution
“LIBERTY TRIUMPHANT: or the Downfall of OPPRESSION.” with “Lead us to Liberty or death!” and “We will secure our freedom, or die in the Attempt.” Circa 1774 Historic Satirical Cartoon Engraved Print & Map Published Shortly After the “Boston Tea Party” by Philadelphia & New York engraver Henry Dawkins
c. 1774 Revolutionary War Era, Important Engraved Copper-Plate Satirical Cartoon Print titled: “LIBERTY TRIUMPHANT: or the Downfall of OPPRESSION.” (Philadelphia or New York), attributed to engraver Henry Dawkins, Printed soon after the Boston Tea Party, Framed, Fine.
One of the most significant historic American Political Satirical Cartoons of the Revolutionary War Era. This rare American Engraved Print was published shortly after the “Boston Tea Party” attributed to be by Henry Dawkins (1753-1786), likely at Philadelphia, measuring about 10” x 13.5” (by sight), matted and period style wooden framed to fully 12.5” x 16.5” overall. Designs and text are primarily intact and clear, laid down on archival paper, marginal edge chips and splits, several light vertical folds, wear at top affecting several letters of the title, and overall moderately toned, as shown. The Print itself has not yet been professionally conserved, from which would potentially significantly benefit if desired. Housed within a period looking decorated wood frame, viewed under UV Plexiglas and ready for display. The characters, text and devices are sharply defined, printed in deep black on its proper laid period paper.

The lower margin contains a key which identifies each of the figures depicted.

The action takes place on a map, with the coast of North America to the right, and England to the left. In the upper left, a crestfallen Britannia tells the genius of Britain, a winged figure with a spear, that she is distressed by the conduct of her degenerate sons, the colonies. Just below her are two groups, the one to the right representing the chained ministers led by the all-powerful Lord North, dominated by the Devil.

To the left are East India company merchants who complain that the American treatment of their goods, particularly the destruction of the tea at Boston and the general refusal of their goods by other colonies, is ruinous to them.

On the other shore, Indian Princess America, armed with bow and arrow and supported by her braves, protects the country. Below her a group of Tories lament the loss of their income and political influence as a result of the boycott of English goods. Top right, the Goddess of Liberty, holding her pole and liberty cap, and the winged figure of Fame discuss the ardor of Liberty's brave sons, the colonies

Titled: "Liberty Triumphant: Or the Downfall of Oppression." Attributed to the Philadelphia & New York engraver Henry Dawkins, published after December 27, 1773, but before April 1774. The active caption-filled political cartoon that shows British politicians & merchants in league with the Devil, on the left side, and American Colonists (seven dressed as Native American Indians, representing those at the Boston Tea Party) on the opposing right side (labeled Boston, New York and Delaware Bay). Captions at the bottom serve as a "key" to the people and symbolic figures being depicted.

The men on the left side are, for the most part, representatives of the East India Company, along with Philadelphia Loyalist Dr. John Kearsley, Jr. The men in the lower right are American Colonial “Tory” Loyalist merchants who opposed the Tea Party, lament their loss of their influence due to the boycotts of English goods, yet deem it better to acquiesce, now that the deed is done. "The people have discovered our design to divide them, & we shall never be able to regain their confidence." The Goddess of Liberty says, "Behold the Ardor of my sons and let not their brave Actions be buried in Oblivion." The lead Indian exclaims... "We will secure our freedom, or die in the Attempt."

The Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773 was the most dramatic act of civil disobedience to the “Tea Act” passed that previous Spring. The “Tea Act” continued an existing tax of three pence per pound on Tea exported to the American colonies and authorized the East Indian Company to sell Tea directly to Colonial merchants. Mass protests occurring in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Charleston effectively prevented the unloading of the Tea cargo. It lead to the passage of the "Intolerable Acts" and the forced closing of Boston harbor. Both the “Boston Tea Party of 1773” and the “Boston Massacre of 1770” were signal events in the lead-up to our Revolutionary War for Independence from Britain.

This print celebrates the New England colonists response to the British Tea Tax, superimposed over a map of the Northern and Middle British Colonies, from the Massachusetts Coastline to Delaware Bay, with New York and Boston plainly depicted. This anonymous satirical cartoon was published as a large engraving (not issued in a newspaper), is one of the few American political cartoons of the Revolutionary period. The eighteen numbered persons, objects, and allegorical figures illustrate the mounting British-American discord in early 1774 after the virulent protests including the Boston Tea Party against the Tea Act of 1773. A complete specific detailed listing of each of the key items, with further explanation, is available to be read on our Auction Website: www.EarlyAmerican.com

Although no engraver or publisher is given, E.P. Richardson argued persuasively in his 1974 article titled: "Four Political Prints" (American Art Journal 6:2, pages 36-39) that the cartoon was an American production, likely done in Philadelphia between late December 1773 and April 1774.

A rare opportunity. In January 2021, a similar clean copy stated to be hinged with a small tear, sold in a Christie’s New York Auction for $43,750. EAHA recently sold a similar copy in our February 25, 2023 Auction Lot 86, graded Very Fine, selling for $37,500.

References See: Dolmetch, “Rebellion and Reconciliation,” p. 31; National Humanities Center, “Colonists Respond to the Tea Act & the Boston Tea Party,” p. 12; Parker, “Wellsprings of a Nation,” p. 135.
No engraver or publisher is given, but E.P. Richardson argued persuasively in his 1974 article "Four Political Prints" (American Art Journal 6:2, pages 36-39) that the cartoon was an American production, likely done in Philadelphia between late December 1773 and April 1774.

The American Antiquarian Society credits the publisher as Henry Dawkins of Philadelphia. See also: Dolmetsch, Rebellion and Reconciliation: Satirical Prints on the Revolution at Williamsburg 31; National Humanities Center, Colonists Respond to the Tea Act & the Boston Tea Party, page 12; Parker, Wellsprings of a Nation, 135. Not in Cresswell; we know of no other hand-colored examples.

HENRY DAWKINS (1753-ca. 1786) was born in England and originally trained as a silversmith. He took up engraving before emigrating to New York City in 1754. Dawkins found work engraving book-plates, maps, and music first in New York City, then Philadelphia, and again in New York. Dawkins was arrested there in 1776 for Counterfeiting Paper Money, and is last heard of as petitioning Congress for release from jail.

The Library of Congress records within its George Washington Papers, Series 4, a Manuscript Receipt Signed by Henry Dawkins in correspondence to Caleb Gibbs, dated September 23rd, 1779 dated from, “Head Quarters West-point” reading, in full:

“Received of Major Gibbs fifty dollars for Engraving 24 small coins, Cups, 2 large tumblers - 4 Middle size breakfast Ditto, 1. peper box & the office seal with His Excellency the Commander in Chief (General George Washington) -- 50 Dollars -- (Signed) Henry Dawkins.

Print: On the shore to the left stand Lord North with sword and chains, the Ministry, Beelzebub, a group of East India directors, the Genius of Britain, Britannia, and several cases of tea. They are separated from the other shore by a narrow strip of water representing the Atlantic Ocean.

On the opposite shore appear America in the form of an Indian woman with bow and arrow, the Sons of Liberty (similarly armed), a group of disappointed citizens who wished to land tea, Captain Loring's vessel shipwrecked on Cape Cod, the ships in Boston Harbor and vessels from New York and Philadelphia seeming to be returning to England.

Engraved below the picture is information referring to those pictured as follows: 8) A group of India directors proclaiming New Yorkers will follow leads of Bostonians and Philadelphians in the tea dispute; 9) The Patriotic Duke of Richmond; 7) The Chairman of the India Company disgusted because the tea plan didn't work; 6) The writer of the papers (signed Poplicola) in favor of the tea asking for a reward in serving the India Tea merchants; 5) Belzebub, the Prince of Devils whispering to K..y; 4) the infamous K..Y promising Govr. T..n will cram the tea down the throats of New Yorkers; 3) A East India director promising to establish a monopoly in America; 2) Lord B..te promising to act; 1) Lord N..th promising to handle the business with art; 18) A group of disappointed American who were landing tea in hopes of sharing the plunder; 12) America represented by a woman asking for aid againsT being fettered; 13) the sons of liberty represented by the Indians proclaiming liberty or death; 17) Captain Lorings vessel with tea shipwrecked on Cape Cod; 14) the Goddess of Liberty addressing herself to ... 15) Fame.. on the ardour of her brave sons.

British officials and others in Great Britain (left of image, from right to left):

1. Lord N--th. Lord North [Prime Minister], holding out a sword and a chain toward America, says, "We must manage this business with a great deal of Art [skill/finesse]; Or I see we shall not succeed."

2. Lord B--te. Bute [former Prime Minister, from Scotland], wearing a waistcoat of plaid, says "God's curse, Mon, ye mon act wie meikle Spirit upon this occasion, or ane's lost I assure ye."

3. An East India [Company] Director says "I wish we may be able to establish our Monopoly in America."

4. The infamous K?y says "Gov T?n [William Tryon, governor of new York] will cram the Tea down the Throat of the New Yorkers." Dr. John Kearsley, Jr., of Philadelphia, was an outspoken Loyalist. . . . In August 1775 Kearsley was mobbed after firing his pistol from his window at a mob hauling Isaac hunt in a cart through the streets of the city. The associators, angered by Hunt, a lawyer, for defying the authority of the Committee of Safety, determined to make an example of him; but on Kearsley's intervention, Hunt was set free and Kearsley put in his place.

5. Belzebub, the Prince of Devils, whispering to K--y," Speak in favor of ye [the] Scheme Now's the time to push your fortune."

6. The writer of the Papers (signed Poplicola) in favor of the Tea who is dressed in clerical gown and bands, gestures toward No. 7, saying "I have prostituted my reason and my Conscience to serve You, and am therefore entitled to some reward." Poplicola was the name signed to three articles appearing in Rivington's New York Gazetteer, November 18, December 2 and 23, and republished as pamphlets, attempting to defend the government and the East India Company. . . . [see excerpts, pp. 6-7 of this compilation]

7. The Chairman of the India Company replies "If we had succeeded, you should have been provided for." Standing behind the Director are:

8. A Group of India Directors, who say to one another, "We have just now received the disagreeable intelligence [news] that the Bostonians have destroyed the Tea"; "and that the Philadelphians have compel'd the Ship for their Port to return with the Tea"; "and likewise that the People of New York, are determined to act in the same spirited manner." . . .

9. The Patriotic Duke of Richmond [sympathetic to Americans' grievances] standing in the background, observes "Had my advice been follow'd, you would not have met with this loss and disappointment." At the feet of this group are several boxes of tea. One, labeled "Tea for America" has resting on it a paper inscribed, "Plan for an India Warehouse in America." Nearby are three boxes labeled "Tea from America." Above this group on the banks of the Thames [River in London], are two allegorical figures.

10. The Genius of Britain" asks "Britannia why so much distress'd"; to which...

11. Britannia replies, "The conduct of those my degenerate Sons will break my Heart." In contrast to the grief-stricken Britannia, and the ship From Philadelphia just entering the Thames, is the scene on the other side of the ocean [America].

12. America represented by a Woman is an Indian queen, with drawn bow about to loose an arrow at Lord North.

Behind her are Six Native American Indian warriors. They are:

13. The Sons of Liberty, represented by the Natives of America, in their savage garb. They emerge from the forest, armed with bows and spears, saying "We will secure our freedom, or die in the Attempt": " Lead us to Liberty or Death"; "Lead on, Lead on." Above them the shores of America stretch out from Boston to the Delaware. Seated in comfort on these shores, holding a Liberty Cap on her staff, a tabby cat curled somewhat incongruously at her feet, is:

14. The Goddess of Liberty, addressing herself to Fame and pointing To her Sons, saying proudly "Behold the Ardor of my Sons and let not their brave Actions be buried in Oblivion."

15. Fame, resting on a cloud and holding a trumpet and laurel wreath, replies "I will trumpet their Noble Deeds, from Pole to Pole."

16. A View of the “Tea” Ships in the Harbour of Boston:

17. Capt. Loring's Vessel with the Tea, Shipwrecked on Cape Cod [Massachusetts]. The Boston letter of Dec. 27 to the Pennsylvania Gazette reported the wreck, adding "We have not yet heard what has become of the detested Tea." Two weeks later, it was reported that the tea had been brought to the Castle [Castle William, a British fort on an island in Boston harbor] by order of the Customs officials. The letter added, "It is reported that the Tea

Consignees had better have had a Millstone tied round their necks, than suffered [allowed] the Tea, saved out of the Wreck of Capt. Loring, to be landed at the Castle."

18. A Group of Disappointed Americans, who were for landing the Tea; in hopes of sharing in the Plunder of their Country. These eight figures in the foreground wear mourning crepes on their hats.

- The first, at the left laments, "The People have discovered our design to divide them, & we shall never be able to regain their confidence."

- Next to him stands a two-faced man, saying, "I am ready to die with grief and vexation, at our Disappointment, As it will blast my hopes of preferment."

- The third man exclaims, "Damn the Bostonians, they have been a great means of frustrating our design." Finally there are a group of four.

- The first says, "We must now make a Virtue of necessity & join against landing the Tea."

- His companion answers, "I approve of your Scheme as it will save appearances with the people who are easily deceived."

-"Agreed." "Agreed" say the last two.

Considered one of the Greatest American Historical Prints of the Revolutionary War Era.