Take a Look at the American Revolution’s Statues in the U.S. Capitol
Take a Look at the American Revolution’s Statues in the U.S. Capitol
Even some of the lesser known Founding Fathers have a place in the halls of Congress.
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For the July Fourth holiday, I have some fare that’s lighter than the doom and gloom about today’s politics that I usually dish up: a little tour some of the statuary art in the U.S. Capitol Building. Each state submits two statues to be on display; they are strategically placed throughout the Capitol. Some of my favorites include Hawaii’s King Kamehameha I and California’s Junípero Serra. There are also a handful of statues on permanent display that are not part of the Statuary Hall collection. But today is all about the American Revolution, so here are some of the Founding Fathers, including many lesser known ones, all photographed by my Bulwark colleague Hannah Yoest.
We’ll resume regular programming later this week—but in the meantime, enjoy these photos and have a happy Fourth.
Roger Sherman, Connecticut
Caesar Rodney, Delaware
Charles Carroll, Maryland
Samuel Adams, Massachusetts
John Stark, New Hampshire
Richard Stockton, New Jersey
Robert Livingston, New York
John P.G. “Peter” Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania
Nathanael Greene, Rhode Island
Ethan Allen, Vermont
George Washington, Virginia
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
Thanks for this column on the statutes of some less well known American Revolutionary patriots. My wife and visited the Capitol in May and took a tour, seeing some of statues shown here. We also happened to see Rep. Kevin McCarthy walk through Statuary Hall within spitting distance of us, though I didn’t spit.
Yesterday we visit Morven, the former New Jersey’s governor’s mansion in Princeton and the residence of Richard Stockton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Like many of the other signers he owned as many as 6 slaves. One wonders what they thought as the signed a document that declared that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” yet owned other humans without those rights.
Still, happy 247th!
I lifted this reference today from "The Daily Stoic" newsletter by Ryan Holiday and it seems relevant:
"The Stoics would have loved a toast given by Admiral David Farragut in the American Civil War, a similar fight of good against evil, a struggle of many years, not just to keep the country together but to triumph over the evil of slavery. 'What matters if, General, whether you and I are killed or not?' Farragut said as he raised his glass to a colleague. 'We came here to die. It is our business and it must happen sooner or later. We must fight this thing out until there is no more than one man left and that man must be a Union man. Here’s to his health...We have people [now] who are trying to revert or oppose age-old traditions of equality, fairness under the law, justice, freedom, as well as virtue itself. There is the modern nihilism, excess, hopelessness. We have to fight for those ideas, we have to put ourselves on those front lines."
More than one observer has likened this moment in our country's history to the time before the Civil War. But hasn't it always been thus? There are always people who will try to advantage themselves against the best interests of others, whether it be in this democracy or another circumstance. The point is that those with the courage and wisdom to do the right thing, to support the rule of law, justice, freedom must DO SOMETHING. Evil persists in the world when men (and women) of good conscience do nothing. Happy 247th Birthday America! May we celebrate many more.