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The 1820's :
National Growth and Tension |
America had 24 states in 1824. The country was beginning to
divide along regional lines -- north versus south, seaboard versus interior
states, established families versus pioneers. This tension was
evident in the 1824 election, when urbane New Englander John Quincy Adams
narrowly defeated rough and ready pioneer Andrew Jackson.
That same year, 1824, construction began on a new U.S. Capitol. To
set the tone for the future, the Rotunda was to be illustrated with scenes
from America's past. Debates ranged in Congress over which scenes
were to be used.
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Robert Weir's Embarkation of
the Pilgrims |
By the late 1820s, Robert Weir was chosen to
illustrate the Embarkation of the Pilgrims, representing an
important scene in the history of New England. Thus the
Pilgrims and their story became linked with America's national identity.
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