Invitation engraved by Toppan, Carpenter & Co. Phila. on card stock is double matted and professionally framed under glass to 12x15.5” with display area of 6.5x9.75”. Both upper corners are noticeably but evenly tanned. All else is extremely clean. Above the arch design is event title, "Grand National Inaugural Ball", “March Fourth” date and the names and offices of Buchanan and Breckenridge. Buchanan is pictured under the arch dated “1857” and printed text below him reads “The Honor Of” and then in hand-written ink “Hon. Jefferson Davis’s” and then printed “Company Is Requested.” Below is a long list of “Managers” including many famous names with “Jeff Davis” as fourth entry in the first column. Jefferson Davis first attained national office with his election in 1844 to the U.S. House of Representatives. He resigned to raise a volunteer regiment named Mississippi Rifles to fight in the 1846 Mexican-American War. In 1847 he became Senator from Mississippi and then resigned in 1851 to run unsuccessfully for Governor of Mississippi. President Pierce appointed him Secretary of War in 1853 and then he ran successfully for the Senate, entering that office March 4, 1857, the same day as Buchanan’s inauguration and the date on this invitation. The arch depicted on this item has columns comprised of blocks, each with a state name. Given Davis’s future role in history, it is somewhat ironic that the blocks at left and right base of the column read “Constitution Of The United States/The Union Must Be Preserved.” Scarce and a historic unique example certainly once handled by Jefferson Davis himself.