Do you remember being a child in History and class and wondering what all the noteworthy individuals you were learning about looked like in real life? From the first American presidents to the people who fought slavery, and even legendary icons such as Johnny Appleseed, who was actually called John Chapman. It helps to flesh out your understanding of a person when you know what they looked like. Photography has, amazingly, been around since the end of the 1820s. Indeed, the ability to capture real life in a visual form was invented long before we could flip light switches on, and even before women could vote. You will be amazed to see which historical legends appeared behind the ancient camera. We will be taking you through the earliest-known legends to be snapped, in one way or another. Make sure to upvote those who changed your life!
President Abraham Lincoln (c. 1846)
The man responsible for shaping America into the proud and free nation that we know it as today, Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) became the President of the United States throughout the nation’s most chaotic period. He singlehandedly managed its turbulent division and resulting reformation, putting an explosive conclusion to the South’s slaving efforts.
As mentioned by the Library of Congress, “This daguerreotype is the earliest-known photograph of Abraham Lincoln, this photo was taken at age 37 when he was a frontier lawyer in Springfield and Congressman-elect from Illinois.” Nicholas H. Shepherd was most likely the photographer in question, “This is based on the recollections of Gibson Harris, a law student in Lincoln’s office from 1845 to 1847.”
President Abraham Lincoln
President Andrew Jackson (c. 1844 – 1845)
From heroic presidents to villainous ones, Andrew Jackson (1767 – 1841) pulled himself out of impoverished origins into lawyer renown. He also earned his medals through serving, finally securing his place as the President of the United States. Despite posing as a hero for the common person, there were plenty who labeled him as a despot. You only need to read up on his abuse of the Native Americans to know the truth of the man. Jackson happily ignored the atrocities committed by Georgian forces when they violently wrestled Cherokee land away awarded to the group by the U.S. Supreme Court. Edward Anthony supposedly took this sinister daguerreotype of Jackson, sometime between 1844 and 1845, created thanks to the Mathew Brady studio.
President Andrew Jackson
