The Art Collection

A gun crew prepares to fire a Naval gun in one of the two great naval battles of the Spanish-American War. In the course of helping Cuba win independence from Spain the United States became prominent in world affairs by acquiring a colonial empire (Puerto Rico and Guam) and establishing naval prominence in both oceans. (1898)

The Old City Hall in New York was the meeting place for delegates from nine colonies, who drew up a Declaration of Rights.

The Congress returned to New York's old City Hall in 1785, 20 years after the meeting of state delegates in that building. Here, in 1789, George Washington was inaugurated president and the first Congress under the Constitution was convened.

A lone explorer in a canoe enters the picture, symbolically from the east.

James Oglethorpe, who founded the colony of Georgia and became its first governor, is shown making peace on the site of Savannah with the chief of the Muskogee Indians, who presents a buffalo skin decorated with an eagle, symbol of love and protection. (1732)

This statue of Oliver Hazard Perry Morton was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Indiana in 1900.

Papinian (c. 146-212) Roman jurist. Author of fifty-six books about legal questions and decisions, extracts from which were influential in the development of the Justinian Code.