British Museum exhibition marks 250 years since American independence with rare Revolutionary War objects
The British Museum is marking the 250th anniversary of American independence with a new display exploring the diplomatic relationships that shaped the American Revolutionary War through a collection of historically significant objects. Declaring independence: USA 250 brings together four artefacts connected to the conflict that followed the declaration of independence by the Thirteen Colonies on 4 July 1776, when the United States of America was established.
The display also highlights the important role played by Indigenous North American Nations and the alliances formed throughout the war.
Three objects from the British Museum’s own collection will be displayed alongside the Sussex Declaration, a ceremonial handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence on loan from the West Sussex Record Office. The document will join the exhibition midway through its run. The Sussex Declaration is the only known handwritten ceremonial copy created alongside the original Matlack Declaration, which is preserved at the National Archives in Washington DC.
At the centre of the exhibition is the Washington Peace Medal, an object whose history reflects the changing relationships between the Revolutionaries, the British Crown and Indigenous nations. Engraved by Paul Revere in 1777, the medal was presented by the Revolutionaries to the Wabanaki Confederacy to commemorate a Treaty of Friendship. It was later confiscated by the British under an enforced treaty before being presented to King George III. The medal eventually entered the British Museum’s collection after being donated by King George IV in 1825.
One side of the medal features George Washington, then commander of the Continental Army and later the first President of the United States. The reverse depicts a classical column surrounded by thirteen hands representing the Thirteen Colonies, alongside an allegorical Native North American figure symbolising America and the importance of alliances with Indigenous Nations.
Another object on display is a wampum belt representing peaceful diplomacy between the Lenape (Delaware) and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in 1712. The museum says the belt demonstrates the long-established diplomatic traditions between Indigenous Nations before the Revolutionary War. The Lenape later signed the Treaty of Fort Pitt in 1778, the first formal treaty between an Indigenous Nation and the United States.
USA 250 includes a pipe tomahawk presented to Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant), the Mohawk and Haudenosaunee leader who fought alongside the British during the conflict. Brant later campaigned in Parliament for Mohawk land rights following the war.
The exhibition explores how diplomacy, alliances and symbolic gifts influenced relationships before, during and after the American Revolutionary War, while illustrating the competing interests and negotiations between Britain, the emerging United States and Indigenous North American Nations.
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