£ 
Declaration of Indépendenée. 201 
« The painting represents the Congress at the moment when 
the committee advance to the table of the president to make 
their report. 
“It contains faithful portraits of all those members who were 
living when the picture was begun, and of all others of whom 
any authentic representation could be obtained. Of a small 
number, no trace could be discovered ; and nothing was admit- 
ted which was not authentic.” 
_ This picture is now, by permission of government, exhibited 
in the Academy of Arts in New-York, and will probably be 
shown in some of our other principal ,cities, before it receives 
its final location at Washington. 
It exhibits the interior of the then Congress Hall at Philadel- 
phia. Most of the members are represented as sitting in their 
respective chairs, or, in various instatices, as standing in differ- 
tnt partsof the room. Almost all the portraits were taken by 
Colonel. Trumbull- from the living men, and their accuracy 
may therefore be relied on: 
The president, John Hancock, sitting at a table, and elevated 
somewhat by a low platform, is receiving the report of the com- 
mittee declaring the independence of the colonies; that com- 
tuittee, individually illustrious, and in this august transaction 
col ectively memorable, was composed of Franklin, Adams, 
Sherman, Jefferson, and Livingston. Mr. Jefferson, in the 
Prime of life; is in the act of laying upon the table the great 
charter of a nation’s liberties; while his companions support 
him by their silent but dignified presence, and the venerable 
Fran in, in particular, imposes new obligations on his coun- 
try’s gratitude, : 
“he figures are as large as the life; and it may safely be 
Said, that the world never beheld, on a similar occasion, a more 
noble assemblage. It was the native and unchartered nobility 
of great talent, cultivated intelligence, superior manners, high 
moral aim, and devoted patriotism. ‘Thé crisis demanded the 
: firmness of which the human mind is capable—a firm- 
ne net produced, for the moment, by passion and enthusiasm, 
cee ing on the most able comprehension of both duties and 
OL, L...No, 9, 98 
