Tag: Democracy in America

James Monroe

James Monroe, Architect of the Monroe Doctrine

James Monroe (1758-1831) WHO HE WAS: James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States, serving from 1817 to 1825. Before his presidency, Monroe was a statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and founding father who played a pivotal role in the American Revolution and the formative years of the United States. WHAT HE SAID: “The best

Francis Scott Key

Francis Scott Key

Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) WHO HE WAS: Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer, author, and poet, most famously known for penning the lyrics to the United States’ national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” During the War of 1812, Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships in Chesapeake Bay, which inspired the iconic

View from Mount Holyoke (The Oxbow), Thomas Cole (1836)

View from Mount Holyoke (The Oxbow), Thomas Cole (1836)

View from Mount Holyoke (The Oxbow), Thomas Cole (1836) “The imagination can scarcely conceive Arcadian vales more lovely or more peaceful than the valley of the Connecticut,” wrote the artist Thomas Cole in his “Essay on American Scenery.” “Its villages are rural places where trees overspread every dwelling, and the fields upon its margin have

American Flamingo, John James Audubon (1838)

American Flamingo, John James Audubon (1838)

American Flamingo, John James Audubon (1838) American Flamingo is one of the 435 hand-colored engravings that make up John James Audubon’s monumental Birds of America, issued in four volumes between 1826 and 1838. The massive publication includes life-size representations of nearly five hundred species of North American birds. Although Audubon was not the first to

County Election, George Caleb Bingham (1852)

County Election, George Caleb Bingham (1852)

County Election, George Caleb Bingham (1852) The County Election pictures the American democratic system in progress. The story takes place in a small Midwestern town in the mid-nineteenth century, when the rituals of voting were still taking shape, particularly on the frontier. George Caleb Bingham, known as “the Missouri artist” for the state where he