"The
United States at One View 1776/1846." New York: Published by H[umphrey]
Phelps, c. 1845.
Click Illustration for larger view
Little is known about publisher and mapmaker Humphrey Phelps (fl. 1840-60), yet much can be surmised from his surviving works. The several maps Phelps conceived and published during the mid-nineteenth century reveal an almost near obsession with not only geographic but also statistical detail. His Stranger's Guide through the City of New York (1837), for example, was a folded pocket map of New York City around whose borders Phelps engraved "References" - lists enumerating area colleges, insurance companies, government offices, public markets, churches, and high schools.
Similarly, his Travellers' Guide Through the United States (New York, 1848) was a 70-page list of railroad, stagecoach, and canal routes and their mileage. The folded map included in the back proved a graphic summary of the book's contents and delineated the vast transportation networks he enumerated. It is easy to interpret this as a work of national pride, for Phelps was not only literally spelling out the expansiveness of the country but also surrounding its geography with familiar symbols of nationalism. The map lies within an elaborate border consisting of images of presidents, other prominent American men, and the state seals.
A recent acquisition purchased under the auspices of the Program in Early American Economy and Society joins the two pieces mentioned above, and highlights Phelps's nationalistic fervor. The broadside "The United States at One View, 1776/1846," published in New York (copyrighted 1845), shows the nation ascendant. It was not coincidental that Phelps published this visually powerful broadside at a time when the nation was preparing for two conflicts over territorial expansion. Tensions with England over the Oregon Territory continued to grow, and the U.S.-Mexican War, fought over Texas, was only a year away.
Phelps's work was a public reaffirmation of U.S. might and the country's continued ability to muster resources. Perhaps as a reminder to those plotting war against the country, Phelps included among his many statistics the number of soldiers who fought in the Revolution. In addition, he reproduced a population chart showing the consistently increasing population of the country. Beyond human resources, the country could also draw upon extensive transportation systems including the railroads, stagecoaches, and canals. River lengths, mountain heights, and city populations - all ever-expanding - merely reinforced the idea that the U.S. enjoyed myriad assets. The bold reproduction of a $50 bill, juxtaposed with smaller colonial currency, was yet another way Phelps chose to drive this message home, suggesting the country's continued growth and strength.
Phelps chose to deemphasize Oregon and Texas, because at this time their status as states was still contested. Mentioned at the very bottom of the broadside, their marginalization reflects their liminal socio-political standing, to be resolved in the years to come through negotiation and conflict, respectively. Because Humphrey Phelps was in equal measure a map maker, publisher, detail-oriented man, and nationalistic American, his broadside - expressive of a more popular national identity - is all the more interesting to contemporary scholars who can not only mine it for statistical information but also be impressed by its larger symbolic meanings and striking visual impact.