Declaration of Independence, 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 vPhen 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 Phila- 

 delphia. Most of the members are represented as sitting in 

 their respective chairs, or, in various instances, as standing in 

 different parts of the room. Almost all the portraits were 

 taken by Colonel Trumbull /romi'/ie living men, and their accu- 

 racy may therefore be relied on. 



The president, John Hancock, sitting at a table, and ele- 

 vated somewhat by a low platform, is receiving the report of 

 the committee declaring the independence of the colonies ; that 

 committee, individually illustrious, and in this august transac- 

 tion collectively 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 

 Franklin, in particular, imposes new obligations on his coun- 

 try's gratitude. 



The 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 man- 

 ners, high moral aim, and devoted patriotism. The crisis de- 

 manded the utmost firmness of which the human mind is capa- 

 ble — a firmness not produced, for the moment, by passion and 

 enthusiasm, but resting on the most able comprehension of 



Vor,. I... .No. ?, 17 



