First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln

This painting, today hanging in the West Staircase of the Senate Wing of the United States Capitol, depicts President Abraham Lincoln reading the Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet. From left: Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (seated), Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase (standing), President Abraham Lincoln (seated), Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (sitting), Secretary of the Interior Caleb B. Smith (standing), Secretary of State William Henry Seward (seated), Postmaster General Montgomery Blair (standing), Attorney General Edward Bates (seated).