To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, American Antiquarian Society curators created an online gallery of AAS collection materials related to the American Revolution. The featured materials include documents, newspapers, prints, maps, and books that reflect the wide-ranging opinions and positions surrounding the path to independence.
Among gallery highlights are: a 1773 broadside authored by a New York Loyalist objecting to his neighbors’ boycotts of British goods; a military service receipt for a Black and Mohegan man serving in the Connecticut Line of the Continental Army; and a book containing an eye-witness account of the Battles at Lexington and Concord.
Memories of the Revolution continued after the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, so the gallery also includes postwar materials. In 1784, poet Phillis Wheatley Peters published “Liberty and Peace,” a series of couplets looking forward to a postwar America: “In smiling Peace resolves the din of War.” Sheet music for “Patriotic Ladies” published in 1798 celebrates George Washington as a hero and reinforces the importance of national liberty.
Anniversaries of the events of the Revolution are also included in the gallery, especially the nation’s centennial in 1876. (A colorful toy soldier called “Ye Hero of ‘76” is among the items on display.) Taken together, the selections illuminate the many voices, experiences, and ideas preserved on the Society’s shelves—stories that continue to deepen our understanding of the nation’s founding and its legacy.
