Joshua Giddings was a renowned anti-slavery leader during his 20 years in the House, but did not live to see slavery abolished in the United States. He died in 1864, in the midst of the Civil War. Three years later, Congress purchased his portrait from artist Caroline Ransom for the then-enormous sum of $1,000. The House installed the portrait in Statuary Hall, where Giddings began his congressional career. Ransom had a long career, and her second congressional portrait, a painting of early Speaker John W. Taylor, arrived at the Capitol four decades later.
