Standing in. We enter here on my left. And you wrap around through 16 galleries and theaters. Pass behind the big painting that you see on the south end of the court all the way around and you actually exit just opposite of where were standing here. You enter a subject of king george iii, when you leave youre a citizen of the american republic. We tell a story. The core narrative is about 1760 to 1790. But then we actually carry you through to the present day to explore the legacies of the American Revolution. First we have to step back to 1776 and we actually start with the recreation of the moment on july 9th, 1776, when a group of soldiers and sailers in new york city first heard the words of the declaration of independence and gathered down at the Bowling Green which is now near the raging bull on wall street, a landmark familiar to many viewers, and tore down an equestrian statue of king george iii. Really marking the beginning of the war of independence. The beginning of the American Revolution. And so this is really our first gallery displaying objects from the period. We call this gallery rule britannia. After youve been in that moment of 1776, we take you back 15 years really to the end of what was known as the seven years war, the french and indian war, the accession of the new king george iii, the first britishborn monarch in a century. This is the period in which britain wins this incredible victory in what Winston Churchill called the first first world war. We know it as the french and indian war. This has vastly expanded britains territories from india to africa to the west indies, and particularly north america. More than double the territory that britain laid claim over in north america. And so in the case behind us we have a collection of objects owned and used by colonial americans that speak to the presence of the king in everyday life. One of the great objects here, this is a cast iron fireback made in at Oxford Furnace in new jersey in 1746. This was essentially a big cast iron plate placed in the back of a fireplace that would radiate heat out into the room. As you can see it includes the arms, the royal arms of the king of england. We also have objects that introduce you to british heroes. So in the upper right a tavern sign, this was on loan to us from the kecticonnecticut histo, a wonderful Historical Society with amazing collections, generously placed on loan to us. General wolf, a british general who died at the battle of quebec helping capture french canada for the british empire. He was celebrated by americans. This tavern sign hung in front of the tavern kept by israel putnam, who would later be famous as an American General in the revolutionary war, fought at the battle of bunker hill. So our second gallery retitled the price of victory. More empire, more problems. So after the british victory in the seven years war, with this vastly expanded empire particularly in north america, britain faces the challenge, because of course everyones very excited about having this larger empire. But there are now tens of thousands of new subjects that look to king george iii, of course, desiring him to act as their sovereign. Or in the case of people who do not recognize him as the sovereign, like native americans, at least see him as a person they can ask for assistance with their problems. And so you have tens of thousands of native americans, you have more than 70,000 french catholic, and some former spanish colonists, who now are britain claims as its subjects. In addition, you have got 2. 5 million british colonists, people like George Washington, people like benjamin frankly and others, who have fought a war they believe to enjoy the fruits of that victory in the west. So the king all of a sudden has to face a challenge of how do i balance the interests of all these subjects . How do i on the one hand keep American Indians happy so that they dont rise up and cause costly wars on the fran tier . At the same time, honor promises that ive made to people like George Washington who think they fought this war in order to enjoy those lands what do i do about these french catholic citizens who. The king kind of has to act as the arbiter of all these people. Gallery two, the price of victory, really sets up that problem for the crown of how does it try to balance all these different interests . What is the view from the interior . What is the view from the colonies . What is the view from britain about this problem of empire . So the objects in here and the media piece really pull that story apart. For native people, for instance, in 1763, theyre the first group of people to sort of rise up and push back against an increased british control of their lives and a rebellion known sometimes as pontiacs rebellion. And they pushed the crown to guarantee their sovereignty over their lands in the west. The british conclude that the best way to kind of get their arms around this new empire is to build forts and stations, more than 10,000 British Regular troops in north america. Not necessarily to oppress colonists but just to keep these various populations separated from one another. And thats a very expensive proposition. British taxpayers have funded this war. Theyve driven their National Debt up very high. In parliament, of course, no one is thinking, well, we should just continue to tax british taxpayers to pay for this. American colonists have enjoyed the benefits of this victory, we should ask them to contribute. So the idea comes up and is eventually passed through parliament of what becomes known as the stamp act. This is actually a depiction on the wall here of the design of that stamp. So this is not a stamp that you put on a letter, of course. This is a very old method of taxation, very familiar to british people, because it was essentially a stamp that was placed on paper. And you can see an original example here. This is a london newspaper and in the lower righthand corner you see that design thats been stamped on that paper. That was a design that meant that a tax had been paid on that paper. And then the newspaper would be printed on it. This would also apply to parchment that you would use for legal documents. It was on playing cards. And so this was the design for the stamp that would have been used in america to help pay for those british troops that were supposed to police the empire. Now of course this was a challenge to colonial americans view, because they view themselves, of course, as transplanted english men. They may not have had any english ancestry whatsoever, that was the remarkable thing about being british colonists, is whether you were swedish or dutch or german or came from any number of european backgrounds, once you had become a naturalized british citizen, you believed that you had these fundamental rights as english men. One of the most fundamental of those is the right not to be taxed without your own consent. And that would be given through elected representatives. In the colonies that was through assemblies. In philadelphia, visit Independence Hall, we know it as Independence Hall because of something that happened in 1776. To people in the period that was the pennsylvania statehouse, the place where the Colonial Legislature met. If you go to Colonial Williamsburg in virginia, youll see the house of burgesss. In boston, the old statehouse. These were the legislative assemblies where men met who had been elected and those were the people who were, in the view of colonists, could actually pass taxes. Two visions of empire collide in this room. Is this empire going to be managed locally by colonists . Are colonists going to tax themselves and make the decisions about defense . Or is that going to come from above in this case from parliament . Thats whats represented by the tax stamp behind me here. Of course its very famously benjamin franklin, whos in london at the time, serving as a colonial agent for pennsylvania, recognizes that nobody likes taxes. But does not anticipate the absolutely virulent reaction in the colonies. He even recommends some friends of his to become tax collectors then really has to sort of react and recover his reputation a little bit after the stamp act was passed. So the next room which we call res resistance is the decade stretching from the stamp act of 1765 to the outbreak of the revolutionary war in 1775. So this is a room that also introduces one of the exhibition technique wet use which is to create these immersive spaces to try to make you feel transported back in time. And so weve recreated here the elm tree that stood in boston in 1765 that became known as the liberty tree. And this was of course a phenomenon that spread through other towns, through other colony in the period, that it was a place where sons and daughters of liberty gathered in a kind of openair political meetings to talk about how they would react to these efforts by the british to impose taxes through parliament on them. Weve actually embedded in the trunk of this tree a piece of wood from the last standing liberty tree. It was standing until 1999 on the grounds of st. Johns college in annapolis, maryland. This is actually a piece of that tulip popular that was bleen down in a hurricane and some of the wood was salvaged. Its just wonderful to have kids in particular feel like theyre touching a piece of history here. So this also is a gallery in which we explore some of the symbols of the Resistance Movement. Forms of resistance. So nonimportation. The impulse to boycott goods that were manufactured in britain. And replace them with locally made goods. We think nowadays, this buy local, buy american movement, is something weve invented. But this has roots going all the way back to the 1760s. Save your money, save your country. Thats actually a slogan from the newspaper in the period. Weve also got a display of these wonderful objects that were used to express political sentiments in the period. Ironically, these were all items made by british manufacturers, that of course most manufacturers, their politics followed their wallets. In this case these were made by english or in this case a chinese port lan ball here with arms of liberty printed on it. This mug in the lower left is an item from the collection here at the museum of the American Revolution that says, success to the city of boston, liberty forever. Again, made in england for the american market. This is also a gallery in which you talk about the evolving language of liberty. You see a lot of writings and articulation of these new ideas about not just about british liberty being restored but this increasing idea that perhaps there is something called american liberty that maybe is even distinct from that of britains. And as all of this lofty, soaring language is rising, we also want to always confront that with the reality that this idea of liberty did not apply to everyone. So in this panel here, which we entitle liberty for all, we explore the experience of slavery for people of african descent. This incredible object has survived, is the original printing of the poems of phyllis wheatley, an enslaved woman who lived in massachusetts. Shed been taken into cant different as a child during the french and indian war, actually, from africa. And eventually learned to read and write and published this book of poems in 1773 that actually has signed the flyleaf here. We actually see the signature of phyllis wheatley. This is an incredible privilege to be able to display this and share this with our visitors. Its actually on the left a an image of her he produced from the frontispiece of that book which gives an idea of what she may have looked like. So this gallery concludes the kind of timeline of events from the Boston Tea Party in december of 1773, through the opening shots of the revolution war in 1775, and we of course explore some of the symbols of the mounting american resistance here. And one of the ones thats a favorite, weve reproduced from a written description this flag that stood on top of a very tall flagpole in tauton, massachusetts, in the fall of 1774. A red emblem, the type of flag that flew over british ships and ports. It has what we would call the union jack today in the upper canton. Its a good reminder that this these were not yet people who were fighting for independence. They were not trying to found an independent republic. They were trying to restore their rights within the british empire. And the presence of that union on their flags of protest, it says liberty and union on there. So it is expressing the sentiments of people resisting what they consider british tyranny. But they are still appealing to king george iii. Their quarrel is with parliament. It is with ministers. It is not yet with the king. And that flag is going to continue to evolve over the next couple of years, but it will eventually turn into what we know as the stars and stripes. So there are several steps in that evolution. In this next gallery that we step into, we basically take you out of that decade of resistance as americans are gradually finding themselves more and more alienated from britain. And both sides are hardening in their attitudes toward one another by the fall of 1774, king george feels that they crossed the rubicon, that it is really going to be a matter of military showdowns to determine whether americans, he feels, are actually trying to found an independent nation, will be able to succeed or not. And so its like theyre living on a powder keg and the sparks come in the spring of 1775. On april 18th, the night of april 18th, 1775 when a secret expedition of british troops marches out of burst, marching toward concord, massachusetts, where the spies have revealed that the americans have been gathering arms for this military confrontation. And the british troops, of course, the alarm goes out, this is the famous ride of paul revere. He was one of dozens of riders. He didnt even get as far as many of the others did. But they managed to alarm the countryside. And theres a confrontation that takes place at lexington, massachusetts, and then a few hours later, at the old northbridge in concord. And thats the scene that you see playing out behind us here. Weve actually animated a period engraving of that fighting at concord bridge. And thats, again, a place concord, massachusetts that every american should visit at some point. You can stand on this ground today. You can see the house that stands up on the berry farm up above the river that still stands there today. And these are all objects which are witness objects to that fighting. Whether its a piece of wood that literally is one of the diagonal braces from the bridge over the river. On april 19th, 1775. That actually came out of the river in the 1950s. It was right there where the bridge stood. There was only one bridge made of oak that was that ever stood on that site. The river kind of changed course and they moved the bridge to a different location. And so, you know, it matches perfectly. The location description of the bridge. And objects through the generosity of the Concord Museum in concord, massachusetts, which has placed a number of these items on display, supplemented pieces from our own collection. Youre able to see all witness items that were there at the fighting on april 19th, 1775. So the mirror is really fascinating. Again this has been in the collection of the Concord Museum in massachusetts for well over a century. This mirror was in the home thats actually visible on the far left of the scene here in the background of the fighting. And that house belonged to captain david brown. This was actually the fouling piece or musket that he carried in the fighting on april 19th. This mirror was on the wall of the house and morning of april 19th, british soldiers had marched across that bridge and went into the house. One of them took that mirror off the wall and threw it out the door. Smashing it in the yard outside. Only one piece of glass was left in it and it was kept as a memento of april 19th and british barbarity by the family, until it was donated to the museum. So its incredible to be able to actually bring together the mirror and the fouling piece which probably had been separated since captain david browns death in the early 1800s. And so were having a little bit of a Family Reunion here for the summer of 2017. So that fighting then brings soldiers from up and down the east coast together. You think about that gallery that centers on the liberty tree for about a decade colonial americans had been forming a kind of imagined community. They had started to feel empathy for one another. Such that when the coercive acts are passed and britain is bottled up and britain bottles up the boston and shuts the port down, humble farmers in places like pennsylvania and new jersey will put flour on a wagon and send to the beleaguered subjects who are living in boston. They started to imagine themselves as americans and have this kind of empathy for one another. But what happens is because the fighting sparks and men from all these colonies stream together, they find that they have a ways to go before they see themselves as fellow americans. So this gallery is about the beginning of that quest for unity. Flying over the scene is kind of the next revolution of that flag. You recognize the british canton. This is still a fight to restore our rights of the englishmen, but now the 13 alternating red and white stripes representing the 13 colonies who have joined in union here. The scene, and we refer to this as a tableau, these are actually lifecast figures. Weve pulled molds off of faces and hands and bodies and very carefully researched and handsewn all of this clothing to sort of compensate for the lack of photographs from the 18th century. But the scene is based on a pension deposition of a man named israel traft. 1775, he was this 10yearold boy in the red coat whose father had brought him to war. He was a massachusetts boy. There was Yankee Fishermen who were in a regiment from the north shore north of boston. They encountered a group of virginia rifle men who had come in their fringed hunting shirts trying to appear like American Indians. Theyd come together in the around the College Buildings at Harvard College at the time, now harvard university, and a fight