Liberty’s Cap: The American Context
Although Congress was typically vague in prescribing an “impression emblematic of Liberty” for the obverse of all the new federal coins to be produced under the Mint Authorization Act of 1792, there is no doubt that the principal image in the minds of most members would have been some form derived from the Roman allegorical figure of Liberty, identifiable by her staff and distinctive cap. By the end of the eighteenth century, this figure had lost its specific reference to antiquity and had become part of the common visual vocabulary as a symbol of both liberal thinking in general in Europe and the struggle for independence in the American colonies.
 Antoine Borel (1743–after 1810), after Jean Charles Levasseur (1734–1816). L’Amérique Indépendente, 1778. Stipple engraving. Paris. This allegorical portrait depicts Benjamin Franklin dressed in classical attire, standing in the New World and surrounded by symbolic figures: a Native American woman; Liberty; Prudence; Britannia; Mars; Neptune; Minerva; Mercury; and Demeter. |
 Bernard de Montfaucon (1655–1741). Antiquity Explained, and Represented in Sculptures. Translated by David Humphreys. Volume 1. London: J. Tonson and J. Watts, 1721–1722. Though the imagery of the ancient goddess of Liberty came ultimately from Roman coins, for most Europeans and Americans it was known through the intermediary of treatises on ancient artifacts and symbols. Benjamin Franklin specifically recommended Montfaucon’s guide to ancient images in his 1749 Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania. |
 Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727–1785), engraved by James Basire (1730–1802). Medallion portrait of Catharine Macaulay. London, 1767. Thomas Hollis (1720–1774), a strong advocate for liberal dissent in England, commissioned this portrait of the historian Catharine Macaulay (1731–1791), whose eight-volume History of England championed the cause of American independence. Her appearance is modeled on the depiction of Liberty on a coin of Brutus (on display in the previous case). |
 Gift of Alexander D. Wainwright, Class of 1939 John Locke (1632–1704). Two Treatises of Government. 6th ed. London: Millar et al., 1764.Bound for Thomas Hollis (1720–1774). It is appropriate that Hollis had his copy of this seminal work of liberal thinking (in an edition he produced) bound in his distinctive personal binding featuring a stamped figure of Liberty from a die produced by the coin engraver Thomas Pingo (1714–1776). Another copy of this book, presented by Hollis to the library of the College of New Jersey in 1764, is in the reconstructed “Eighteenth-Century Room” at the entrance to this department. |
 “The City Carriers.” The London Magazine 38 (July 1769): opposite 392. This unsigned satirical print depicts Samuel Turner, Lord Mayor of London, at the head of a procession, alongside Liberty, to present the petition of the Livery of London to the king. Truth rides sidesaddle on a donkey, followed by William Beckford, Barlow Trecothick, and Sir R. Ladbroke; an effigy of Thomas Harley brings up the rear among the rabble. On the right, Lord Holland, portrayed as a fox, stands in a sentry’s box next to “The Gate of Red-dress” and points to a fool’s cap on the ground; he whispers to the sentry, “It fits exactly.” |
 Thomas Stothard (1755–1834), engraved by Thomas Cook 1744–1818). “‘Oh fly’ cries Peace, the Soul of Social Life. . . .” The Universal Magazine 73 (July 1783). Following the victories by American armies, the peace party gained ascendancy in the British Parliament and sought to turn England’s attention to the benefits of liberty at home. |
 Gift of John H. Scheide, Class of 1896 Philip Freneau (1752–1832). A Poem, on the Rising Glory of America. Philadelphia: Printed by Joseph Crukshank, 1772. This florid dialogue, extolling America as having replaced Greece and Rome as the true home of liberty, was written for delivery at the commencement ceremony held at Nassau Hall on September 25, 1771. |
 Gift of Sinclair Hamilton, Class of 1906 Paul Revere (1735–1818). The Honble. John Hancock, Esqr. The Royal American Magazine 1, no. 3 (March 1774). Revere’s portrait of Hancock (after a painting by John S. Copley) introduced the text of the speech Hancock delivered at the fourth annual commemoration of the Boston Massacre. The portrait is flanked by a knight with a copy of the Magna Charta and by Liberty. Beneath Liberty, a British lion rests its paw on the figure of a soldier from the Royal 29th Regiment; in this copy the soldier’s features have been effaced. |
 Gift of Sinclair Hamilton, Class of 1906 Pierre Eugène Du Simitière (ca. 1736–1784). Goddess America. The Pennsylvania Magazine, or American Monthly Museum 1 (January, 1775). This engraving by the Swiss artist and antiquarian resident in Philadelphia depicts the figure of Liberty in Minerva’s helmet, holding the vindicta and pileus askew and brandishing the arms of the Penn family. A cannon labeled “The Congress” sits idly to one side, and Liberty’s powder horn hangs on a tree to the right above the unused cannon balls. |
 Thomas Sparrow (1746?–1780?). Maryland, paper $4, July 26, 1775. Liberty appears on the right, trampling a scroll marked SLAVERY and handing a scroll to Britannia marked CONG[ress] PETI[tion]. The left figure of the threesome is George III, trampling the Magna Charta. |
 Georgia, paper $4, 1776. The pileus on vindicta is flanked by a caduceus, symbol of commerce, and a cornucopiae, symbol of wealth. The motto LIBERTAS CARIOR AURO means “Liberty is worth more than gold.” |
 Gabriel Lewyn. North Carolina, paper $10, April 2, 1776. The image of Cupid holding the vindicta and pileus is one of dozens of depictions, some patriotic and some generic, on this large issue. |
 Paul Revere (1735–1818). Masthead for The Massachusetts Centinel 40, no. 3 (August 6, 1785). Liberty continued to be a staple of patriotic illustration through the Confederation period. |
 Purchased with support from the Townsend-Vermeule Fund. Sicily, Syracuse. Silver dekadrachm signed by Euainetos, 406–367 BCE. The dekadrachm of Syracuse has always been regarded as one of the most beautiful coins ever minted. The appearance of the die cutter’s signature is testimony to the recognition of its artistic importance at the time of its creation. |
 Gift of Rodman Wanamaker, Class of 1886 Augustin Dupré (1748–1833). Libertas Americana. Gilt bronze, 1783. While overseeing the minting in Paris of medals authorized by Congress for the heroes of the Revolution, Benjamin Franklin decided to sponsor personally the creation of a medal to celebrate the American victories over the British. He made detailed plans for the reverse, an allegorical scene of Minerva (France) protecting the infant Hercules (the United States), seen strangling two snakes (the British forces), from an attacking leopard (Great Britain). He seems to have left the design of the obverse to the engraver, Augustin Dupré, who adapted an idealized female face, possibly from the Syracusan dekadrachm, as a figure of Liberty by putting a small vindicta and pileus behind her head. Franklin’s distribution of about 300 examples to members of Congress and other influential individuals established this vision of Liberty as the one that would dominate American numismatic imagery. |