Topic: Symbols
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Join or Die
This image was originally created by Benjamin Franklin prior to the Seven Years’ War. In the face of threats from the French and the American Indians, Franklin encouraged the colonists...
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Liberty Bird
This image is a popular depiction of the American eagle. During the American Revolution, the eagle came to represent the American ideals of freedom and virtue. Like the image on...
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Liberty in the Form of the Goddess of Youth
This popular engraving is a symbolic portrayal of the early United States. The female goddess of Liberty nourishes the eagle, a symbol of the young republic. Stepping on the key...
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Union Jack
The Union Jack is the official flag of Great Britain. Its design combines the three crosses that symbolize England, Scotland, and Ireland. English monarchs claimed the crown of Ireland from...
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Lansdowne Portrait of George Washington
This portrait of George Washington was painted in 1796 by Gilbert Stuart. Known as the Landsdowne portrait, it is one of the most famous images of the first president. Portraying...
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Design for the Verso of the Great Seal of the United States
This image became the basis for the Great Seal of the United States. In 1782 Congress adopted the designed created by Charles Thomson, a government official. The bald eagle, an...
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A Display of the United States of America
This image portrays the idea of nationhood in the new republic. Produced by a Connecticut engraver during George Washington’s second term as president, the image presents Washington, the country’s great...
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Cipher of Lord’s Prayer
As secretary of state and later as president, Jefferson experimented with cryptography, or secret writing. To keep his political enemies from reading his letters and other documents, Jefferson invented and...
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English Woodcut
This woodcut shows bees and their hive (or apiary). Perhaps Thomas Jefferson had such an image in mind when he explained that his ideal religious denomination would be called “Apiarians”...
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