An Op-Ed from D.G. Hart
Controversy over the removal of the slavery exhibits at Independence National Historical Park (INHP), has diverted attention from National Park Service’s refusal to display a remarkable collection of portraits of Continental Congress’ members that hang in one of the parks’ prized Philadelphia buildings. Architecture and paintings hardly compete with slavery for space in the nation’s historical imagination. Even so, exhibitions about George Washington’s slaves and portraits of the Founders deserve to be open to visitors during the semi-quincentennial.
The same government that is removing the slavery exhibits apparently has no intention to open Philadelphia’s portrait gallery. The paintings in question are the creation of an amazing and underappreciated figure among the Founders – Charles Willson Peale. The Forest Gump of the Founding, Peale may be most famous for his self-portrait, “The Artist and His Museum” (1822), a painting that offered a rare glimpse inside the upstairs banquet room at Independence Hall. Born in Maryland and trained as a saddle-maker, Peale studied painting in England. Back in North America, in 1776 Peale moved to Philadelphia, enlisted in the Pennsylvania militia, and rose to the rank of captain. He served in close proximity to General Washington and used those observations to render a signature portrait, “George Washington After the Battle of Princeton” (1779). After the Revolutionary War, President Washington commissioned Peale to paint a portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette. The artist added six more portraits of Washington. His museum inside Independence Hall combined, oddly by modern standards, art and natural history. Cages of stuffed animals hung below rows of portraits.
Peale’s paintings now hang inaccessibly inside a Greek Revival edifice built originally for the Second Bank of the United States (1824). Designed by William Strickland, who also restored Independence Hall’s clock tower (1828), the building brought a taste of Athens to the nation’s original federal capital. The Second Bank building was one of many structures the federal government acquired in 1948 when Congress approved over four million dollars for the creation of INHP.
Prior to that appropriation of funds, Independence Hall and related buildings had a rocky ride in public memory. Some buildings like the home where Thomas Jefferson wrote drafts of the Declaration were razed for new businesses. Others like Benjamin Franklin’s home came down to make room for new housing. Independence Hall itself had a variety of uses between 1800 (when both federal and state governments vacated Philadelphia) and the 1948 creation of a national park. For a time, the city even used the basement as a dog pound.
A number of Philadelphians worked with the city to maintain Independence Hall. The most successful of those was the Independence Hall Association, founded in 1942 by local business and civic leaders, architects, and historic preservationists. This group celebrated when Congress created INHP and let the Department of the Interior, through the National Park Service, maintain and lead tours at Independence Hall.
This history provides some perspective on the Trump administration’s removal of the slavery exhibits at INHP. Critics object both to the heavy hand of a brash executive and whitewashing slavery from the Founding. These critics stress the need for a full account of the nation’s origins to show that liberty and slavery co-existed and to minimize the hypocrisy of merely celebrating freedom.
Those who argue for a full history of the Founding should also consider at least whether the federal government is the best way to run and interpret sites like Independence Hall.
