The Silver Canvas - Daguerrotype Masterpieces (Art Photography Ebook)

A N A T I O N I N T R A N S I T I O N
FIGURE 40
THOMAS U. WALTER
American (1804-1887)
Design for Extension and New Dome of the U.S. Capitol
1855
Watercolor on paper
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia
Nevertheless, the difference between these
two architectural expressions does reflect an equivalent
change in the nation itself—not simply because
it doubled in size, but because of the differences
such an expansion meant to the life of every citizen.
This momentous change occurred between the
time President James Knox Polk gave his inaugural
address on the steps of the East Front of the Capitol
in March 1845 and his final address to Congress in
1848. During that time, he had presided over the
enormous land expansion that added the territories
of Oregon, Texas, and California; he had concluded
a war with Mexico; and he was able to gild his final
words with the announcement of the discovery
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