This certifies that [blank] is a member of the Native American Republican Association of Philadelphia / engraved & published by W.L. Germon, no. 80 1/2 Walnut St., Philadelphia.

A large ornamented membership certificate for a Philadelphia nativist organization. The motto "Beware of Foreign Influence" appears on a streamer above a bust portrait of George Washington. The Washington portrait is framed with oak leaves and a belt with the quotation, "First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen." Around it is a circle of stars in radiating beams of light. The center of the certificate is flanked by two fasces, each ornamented with olive leaves, wreaths, daggers, and a banner. The banners are decorated with images reflecting the somewhat chauvinistic tenor of the nativist organizations. The banner on the left shows an American mariner holding a flag and waving his hat; the one on the right a full-length portrait of Washington, the general, with his horse. Wound about the fasces on the left is a ribbon reading, "Our Country and Her Flag;" on the right "United We Stand, Divided We Fall." At the bottom of the certificate is a small emblem of an American eagle on a rock in a stormy sea, with a shield, olive branch, and arrows. The engraver, publisher, and (probably) designer of the certificate, Washington L. Germon, was also a Philadelphia daguerreotypist and photographer.
Title from print.
"Entered ... 1845, by W.L. Germon..."
The Library's impression is the copyright proof, originally deposited on May 8, 1845.
Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1845-8.