The 47 Faces That Helped Shape America
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As fireworks light the sky this Independence Day, it's worth pausing to remember the 47 faces that helped forge the nation we celebrate.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
There's a painting that has hung in a hallowed hall since 1826.
An oil on canvas, measuring 12 by 18 feet.
Between three and five million people view this painting each year. In fact, it's estimated that more Americans have seen this image than any other.
It's a painting of 47 faces-faces the artist wanted us to know.
Thirty-six of those faces were painted from life-a costly and time-consuming endeavor for the artist. It took years to complete, with no expense spared.
All so that you and I, those who came before us, and those who will follow, could know the faces of these 47 patriots.
It's a national heirloom-a revered and tangible glimpse into our history.
The painting, of course, is John Trumbull's masterpiece, The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, which hangs in the Capitol Rotunda.
Most likely, you've seen it before.
And yes, it's worth far more than a thousand words.
Yale University notes, "The goal was to preserve the exact likenesses of those extraordinary individuals-aristocrats, lawyers, doctors, farmers, shopkeepers-who had put their lives and fortunes on the line."
The forty-seven patriots? Founding Fathers of this beautiful land many of us call home-men who sacrificed much for an untried experiment in "liberty and justice for all."
David McCullough, speaking at the Jefferson Lecture, said:
"The scene proclaims that in Philadelphia in the year 1776 a momentous, high-minded statement of far-reaching consequence was committed to paper. It was not the decree of a king or a sultan or emperor or czar, or something enacted by a far-distant parliament. It was a declaration of political faith and brave intent freely arrived at by an American congress. And that was something entirely new under the sun."
We don't think much about America's Founders these days.
In fact, we don't reflect often enough on our beginnings at all. We're so busy with our rhetoric of discord, we sometimes forget to remember-and honor-that which unites rather than divides.
As Independence Day approaches, let us remember those 47 faces-men who gave much so we could claim the unalienable rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
McCullough said it best of those 47 faces:
"Those brave, high-minded people of earlier times gave us stars to steer by-a government of laws, not of men; equal justice under the law; the importance of the individual; and the ideal of equality before the law for all-ideas still the most important in the world."