The Constitutional Convention, 1787

Following the Revolutionary War, the new American government was first organized under the Articles of Confederation, but that document gave the federal government too little authority to be effective. Convened to amend the Articles of Confederation, this convention wrote a new Constitution that strengthened the national government but imposed the separation of powers and a system of checks and balances to guard against tyranny. This mural shows delegates meeting in Benjamin Franklin's garden (from left to right): Alexander Hamilton, James Wilson, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin.

Left: The plowman and his book symbolize education for all, a concern of the time.

Right: A colonist bars the door of his home, symbolizing the desire for freedom from unreasonable search that was eventually addressed by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

About the Cox Corridors Murals

The first floor of the U.S. Capitol's House wing is elaborately decorated with wall and ceiling murals by artist Allyn Cox. The central east-west corridor is referred to as the Great Experiment Hall because it chronicles in 16 murals the legislative milestones of three centuries, from the signing of the Mayflower Compact in 1629 to the enactment of women's suffrage in 1920.