First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln

First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln
Artist	Francis Bicknell Carpenter
Year	1864
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	274.3 cm × 457.2 cm (108 in × 180 in)
Location	United States Capitol, Washington, D.C., U.S.

First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln is an 1864 oil-on-canvas painting by Francis Bicknell Carpenter. In the painting, Carpenter depicts Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, and his Cabinet members reading over the Emancipation Proclamation, which proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states in rebellion against the Union in the American Civil War on January 1, 1863.^[1] Lincoln presented the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet on July 22, 1862^[2] and issued it on September 22, 1862. The final Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863.

Carpenter spent six months in the White House while he painted. The painting is displayed at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.