Mrs. Benedict Arnold and Daughter, c. 1783—89

Mrs. Benedict Arnold and Daughter, c. 1783—89
by
Thomas Lawrence (1769—1830)

Pastel on gouache paper. Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent, Philadelphia, PA.

Peggy Shippen (1760 - 1804), daughter of Edward Shippen — a moderate Loyalist who later became Chief Justice of Pennsylvania from 1799 to 1805 — married Benedict Arnold, 20 years her senior, when she was 18.

Pictured with her is either their only daughter, Sophia Matilda Arnold (b. 1785), or, since young boys also wore dresses at that time, possiblly it is their son, Edwin Shippen Arnold (b. 1780).

In 1789 the South and especially Virginia had been the impelling force in creating the nation. By 1815 the South and slaveholders still seemed to be in control of the national government. President Madison was a slaveholder. So too were Speaker of the House, Henry Clay, James Monroe, the secretary of state, and George W. Campbell, the secretary of the treasury. All Republican leaders of the House were slaveholders. In 1815 the United States had four missions in Europe: two of them were held by slaveholders. The chief justice of the United States was a slaveholder, as were a majority of the other members of the Court. Since 1789 three of the four presidents, two of the five vice-presidents, fourteen of the twenty-six presidents pro tempore the Senate, and five of the ten Speakers of the House had been slaveholders.

— Gordon S. Wood
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)