Of the museum at the corner of third and Chestnut Street in old city philadelphia. Philadelphia was the headquarters of the revolution. This is where delegates came. This is where the protest against british oppression first mounted. This is where the declaration of independence was written. So this really is the most central element of the American Revolution, the birth of our nation, which is why this museum is located here. Just down the street from me is the first bank of the states. Alexander hamiltons branch bank when he launched our nations banking system. It is also the first building constructed by the United States of america. So we, truly, are where the nation began, and it is the right place to tell the entire story of the American Revolution. It is our mission in this museum. Behind me, you see cannons from the era. These are part of the city of philadelphias collection. Every one of these canons is old enough that it could have been used to fight the revolution. Behind me, you see the Core Concepts that arose from the declaration of independence, the lofty ideals of equality, freedom, selfgovernment, which is the whole purpose of the American Revolution. It began in 1776, but the revolution continues to this very day. Over here, we have wonderful exterior features of the museum that really help extend our story and use the outside of the building to inform people about the revolution. These are things you will recognize. The first one is a giant thattural relief represents the John Trumbull painting the declaration of independence. What you are looking at is the drafting committee that wrote the declaration led by Benjamin Franklin, john adams, of course thomas jefferson, presenting to the entire assembled congress in 1776. That launched about three or four days of debate before the language was finalized on the fourth of july. The sculptural panel really shows you the people who helped create the defining document of the american people. It is the power of the pen. It really is the ideals, the concepts of the resolution revolution that has made the most important event in our nations history and one of the most important events in world history. The second panel we have, same scale, also in bronze, tells the other story of the American Revolution. That is the power of the sword. This is a replica of a painting, Washington Crossing the delaware. We all recognize it. This represents the improbable feat of overcoming impossible odds against the British Military and the battlefield. It was really due to George Washingtons leadership. The painting really dramatizes washingtons leadership. There are a number of details about this painting. It absolutely is truthful in capturing washingtons leadership and the sense of purpose and mission of the revolution itself. Both of these sculptural pieces are donations to the museum. They were donated by a naturalized american, a woman born and raised in china but now an american citizen. She wanted to give these to the museum and the public in gratitude of the freedom and life she has been able to live as an american citizen. That is really the legacy of our revolution. We encompass everyone that comes to this nation, no matter when their ancestors came, and if they uphold the values of our founding, then they too are american. Wonderful to not only review the history of these panels but also their meaning in terms of the significance of the donors today. Having looked at the outside of the museum, lets go in. We are entering the entrance rotunda of the museum. This is a wonderful classical welcoming space. The architect of the building was robert am stern. We selected him because he so thoroughly understands classical architecture. Not that we wanted to copy some building from antiquity, but we scale,the same sense of proportion, and stature. He delivered beautifully. This rotunda is named in his honor. Lets go upstairs. The design of the stairs is intentional to evoke curved, soaring staircases of some of the homes of the colonial republic period. They also welcome our visitors to come upstairs to the atrium where the core of our exhibits are. In the atrium, you see some magnificent paintings. These are paintings that are historic and they capture the spirit of the American Revolution. The one that you are looking at now is by harrington fitzgerald. He is a pennsylvania artist, and he painted this in the early 19th century and early 20th century. It was Washingtons Army marching into valley forge after the british captured philadelphia. Me is a magnificent painting, but it is a copy. The original was by a frenchman. The original hangs in versailles. This was created in the middle of the 19th century. This copy was. It shows the siege of yorktown. Since a french artist painted this for the king, the most prominent individual is general rochambeau. Our general, George Washington, is behind him to the left. It does capture the critically Important Role that the french played not only in yorktown but throughout the revolution. One other feature that attracted us to this painting is that it shows a tent, really a french tent. It looks more napoleonic. Not the type of tent George Washington would have used. But we love the fact that it did show how armies would have traveled, living in tents. The crown jewel of our collection is George Washingtons war tent. I am scott stevenson. I am the Vice President of collections, exhibitions and programming at the museum. We are standing on the second floor of the museum. This is where our core exhibition, 16,000 square feet of exhibition space, kind of wraps around this court that im standing in. We enter here on my left. And you wrap around through 16 galleries and theaters. Pass behind the big painting that you see on the south end of the court all the way around and you actually exit just opposite of where were standing here. You enter a subject of king george iii. When you leave, youre a citizen of the american republic. We tell a story. The core narrative is about 1760 to 1790. But then we actually carry you through to the present day to explore the legacies of the American Revolution. First we have to step back to 1776 and we actually start with the recreation of the moment on july 9th, 1776, when a group of soldiers and sailers in new york city first heard the words of the declaration of independence and gathered down at the Bowling Green which is now near the raging bull on wall street, a landmark familiar to many viewers, and tore down an equestrian statue of king george iii. Really marking the beginning of the war of independence, the beginning of the American Revolution. [shouting] and so this is really our first gallery displaying objects from the period. We call this gallery rule britannia. After youve been in that moment of 1776, we take you back 15 years really to the end of what was known as the seven years war, the french and indian war, the accession of the new king george iii, the first britishborn monarch in a century. This is the period in which britain wins this incredible victory in what Winston Churchill called the first first world war. We know it as the french and indian war. This has vastly expanded britains territories from india to africa to the west indies, and particularly north america. More than double the territory that britain laid claim over in north america. And so in the case behind us we have a collection of objects owned and used by colonial americans that speak to the presence of the king in everyday life. One of the great objects here, this is a cast iron fireback made in at Oxford Furnace in new jersey in 1746. This was essentially a big cast iron plate placed in the back of a fireplace that would radiate heat out into the room. As you can see, it includes the arms, the royal arms of the king of england. Right above it, a similar coat of arms. This is for queen anne. It was actually found in the attic of Independence Hall in 1844. It had been taken down to have the new arm of the new king, king george the first, placed up there. This was the type of symbol of the crown that you would have seen in public and private spaces. It was a reminder of the sovereignty of the king, who was the glue that held society together. We also have objects that introduce you to british heroes. In the upper right, a tavern sign. This is on loan to us from a wonderful Historical Society with an amazing collection. You see general wolf, a british general who died after being mortally wounded at the battle of quebec, helped capture french canada for the british empire. He was celebrated by americans. This tavern sign hung by the tavern in honor of general putnam, who fought at the battle of bunker hill. We titled gallery, the price of victory. More empire, more problems. So after the british victory in the seven years war, with this vastly expanded empire particularly in north america, britain faces this challenge, because of course everyones very excited about having this larger empire. But there are now tens of thousands of new subjects that look to king george iii, of course, desiring him to act as their sovereign. Or in the case of people who do not recognize him as the sovereign, like native americans, at least see him as a person they can ask for assistance with their problems. And so you have tens of thousands of native americans, you have more than 70,000 french catholic, and some former spanish colonists, who now are britain claims as its subjects. In addition, you have got 2. 5 million british colonists, people like George Washington, people like Benjamin Franklin and others, who have fought a war they believe to enjoy the fruits of that victory in the west. So the king all of a sudden has to face a challenge of how do i balance the interests of all these subjects . How do i on the one hand keep American Indians happy so that they dont rise up and cause costly wars on the frontier. At the same time, honor promises that ive made to people like George Washington who think they fought this war in order to enjoy those lands. What do i do about these french catholic citizens who want to continue to practice their faith, etc. The king kind of has to act as the arbiter of all these people. Gallery two, the price of victory, really sets up that problem for the crown of how does it try to balance all these different interests . What is the view from the interior . What is the view from the colonies . What is the view from britain about this problem of empire . So the objects in here and the media piece really pull that story apart. For native people, for instance, in 1763, theyre the first group of people to sort of rise up and push back against an increased british control of their lives in a rebellion known sometimes as pontiacs rebellion. And they pushed the crown to guarantee their sovereignty over their lands in the west. The british conclude that the best way to kind of get their arms around this new empire is to build forts and station more than 10,000 British Regular troops in north america. Not necessarily to oppress colonists, but just to keep these various populations separated from one another. And thats a very expensive proposition. British taxpayers have funded this war. Theyve driven their National Debt up very high. In parliament, of course, no one is thinking, well, we should just continue to tax british taxpayers to pay for this. American colonists have enjoyed the benefits of this victory, we should ask them to contribute. So the idea comes up and is eventually passes through parliament of what becomes known as the stamp act. This is actually a depiction on the wall here of the design of that stamp. So this is not a stamp that you put on a letter, of course. This is a very old method of taxation, very familiar to british people because it was essentially a stamp that was placed on paper. And you can see an original example here. This is a london newspaper and in the lower righthand corner you see that design thats been stamped on that paper. That was a design that meant a tax had been paid on that paper. And then the newspaper would be printed on it. This would also apply to parchment that you would use for legal documents. It was on playing cards. And so this was the design for the stamps that would have been used in america to help pay for those british troops that were supposed to police the empire. Now, of course, this was a challenge to colonial american view, because they view themselves, of course, as transplanted english men. They may not have had any english ancestry whatsoever, that was the remarkable thing about being british colonists, is whether you were swedish or dutch or german or came from any number of european backgrounds, once you had become a naturalized british citizen, you believed that you had these fundamental rights as english men. One of the most fundamental of those is the right not to be taxed without your own consent. And that would be given through elected representatives. In britain, of course, that is parliament. In the colonies that view was that this was through assemblies. In philadelphia if you visit Independence Hall, we know it as Independence Hall because of something that happened in 1776. To people in the period that was the pennsylvania statehouse, the place where the Colonial Legislature met. If you go to Colonial Williamsburg in virginia, youll see the house of burgesses. In boston, the old statehouse. These were the legislative assemblies where men met who had been elected and those were the people who were, in the view of colonists, could actually pass taxes. Impose taxes on them. You have two visions of empire that collide in this room. Is this empire going to be managed locally by colonists . Are colonists going to tax themselves and make the decisions about defense . Or is that going to come from above, in this case from parliament . Thats whats represented by the tax stamp behind me here. Of course, it is very famously Benjamin Franklin, whos in isdon at the time who serving as the colonial agent for pennsylvania, recognizes that nobody likes taxes but does not anticipate the absolutely virulent reaction in the colonies. He even recommends some friends of his to become tax collectors then really has to sort of react and recover his reputation a little bit after the stamp act is passed. So the next room which we call resistance is about the decade stretching from the stamp act of 1765 to the outbreak of the revolutionary war in 1775. So this is a room that also introduces one of the exhibition techniques we use, which is to create these immersive spaces to try to make you feel transported back in time. And so weve recreated here the elm tree that stood in boston in 1765 that became known as the liberty tree. And this was, of course phenomenon that spread through , a other towns, through other colony in the period. It was a place where sons and daughters of liberty gathered in a kind of openair political meetings to talk about how they would react to these efforts by the british to impose taxes through parliament on them. Weve actually embedded in the trunk of this tree a piece of wood from the last standing liberty tree. It was standing until 1999 on the grounds of st. Johns college in annapolis, maryland. This is actually a piece of that tulip poplarar that was blown down in a hurricane and some of the wood was salvaged. Its just wonderful to have kids in particular feel like theyre touching a piece of history here. So this also is a gallery in which we explore some of the symbols of the resistance movement. Forms of resistance. So nonimportation. The impulse to boycott goods that were manufactured in britain and replace them with locally made goods. We think nowadays, this buy local, by American Movement buy American Movement is something weve invented. But this has roots going all the way back to the 1760s. Save your money, save your country. Thats actually a slogan from the newspaper in the period. Weve also got a display of these wonderful objects that were used to express political sentiments in the period. Ironically, these were all items made by british manufacturers, that, of course, most manufacturers, their politics followed their wallets. So in this case, these were made by english or in this case a chinese porcelain bowl here with arms of liberty printed on it. This mug in the lower left is an item from the collection here at the museum of the American Revolution that says, success to the city of boston, liberty forever. Again, made in england for the american market. Now, this is also a gallery in which you talk about the evolving language of liberty. You see a lot of writings and articulation of these new ideas about not just about british liberty being restored but this increasing idea that perhaps there is something called american liberty that maybe is even distinct from that of britains. And as all of this lofty, soaring language is rising, we also want to always confront that with the reality that this idea of liberty did not apply to everyone. So in this panel here, which we entitle liberty for all, we explore the experience of slavery for people of african descent. This incredible object that has survived is an original printing of the poems of phyllis wheatley, an enslaved woman who lived in massachusetts. Shed been taken into captivity as a child during the french and indian war, actually, from africa. And eventually learned to read and write and published this book of poems in 1773 that actually has signed the flyleaf here. We actually see the signature of phyllis wheatley. And this is an incredible privilege to be able to display this and share this with our visitors. This is actually on the left an reproducedr re from the frontispiece of that book which gives an idea of what she may have looked like. So this gallery concludes the with a kind of timeline of events from the Boston Tea Party in december of 1773, through the opening shots of the revolutionary war in 1775, and we of course explore some of the symbols of the mounting american resistance here. And one of the ones thats a favorite of mine, we have reproduced from a written description this flag that stood atop a very tall flagpole in tauton, massachusetts, in the fall of 1774. As you can see, it is a red ensi gn, the type of flag that flew over british ships and ports. It has what we would call the union jack today in the upper canton. Its a good reminder that these were not yet people who were fighting for independence. They were not trying to found an independent republic. They were trying to restore their rights within the british empire. And the presence of that union on their flags of protest, it says liberty and union on there. So it is expressing the sentiments of people resisting what they consider british tyranny. But they are still appealing to king george iii. Their quarrel is with parliament. It is with ministers. But it is not yet with the king. And that flag is going to continue to evolve over the next couple of years, but it will eventually turn into what we know as the stars and stripes. So there are several steps in that evolution. In this next gallery that we step into, we basically take you out of that decade of resistance as americans are gradually finding themselves more and more alienated from britain. And both sides are hardening in their attitudes toward one another. By the fall of 1774, king george feels that they crossed the rubicon, that it is really going to be a matter of military showdowns to determine whether americans, he feels, are actually trying to found an independent nation, will be able to succeed or not. And so its like theyre living on a powder keg and the sparks spark comes in the spring of 1775. On april 18th, the night of april 18th, 1775 when a secret expedition of british troops marches out of boston, marching toward concord, massachusetts, where the spies have revealed that the americans have been gathering arms for this military confrontation. And the british troops, of course, the alarm goes out, this is the famous ride of paul revere. He was one of dozens of riders. He didnt even get as far as many of the others did. But they managed to alarm the countryside. And theres a confrontation that takes place in lexington, massachusetts, and then a few hours later, at the old northbridge in concord. And thats the scene that you see playing out behind us here. Weve actually animated a period engraving of that fighting at concord bridge. And thats, again, a place concord, massachusetts that every american should visit at some point. You can stand on this ground today. You can see the house that stands up on the berry farm up above the river that still stands there today. And these are all objects which are witness objects to that fighting. Whether its a piece of wood that literally is one of the diagonal braces from the bridge that stood over the river. On april 19th, 1775. That actually came out of the river in the 1950s. It was right there where the bridge stood. There was only one bridge made of oak that ever stood on that site. The river kind of changed course and they moved the bridge to a different location. And so, you know, it matches perfectly. The location and description of the bridge. And objects through the generosity of the Concord Museum in concord, massachusetts, which has placed a number of these items on display, supplemented pieces from our own collection. You are actually able to see all witness items that were there at the fighting on april 19th, 1775. So, the mirror is really fascinating. Again, this has been in the collection of the Concord Museum in massachusetts for well over a century. This mirror was in the home thats actually visible on the far left of the scene here in the background of the fighting. And that house belonged to captain david brown. This was actually the fouling piece or musket that he carried in the fighting on april 19th. This mirror was on the wall of the house and the morning of april 19th, british soldiers had marched across that bridge and went into the house. One of them took that mirror off the wall and threw it out the door. Smashing it in the yard outside. Only one piece of glass was left in it and it was kept as a memento of april 19th and british barbarity by the family, until it was donated to the museum. So its incredible to be able to bring together the mirror and the fouling piece which probably had been separated since captain david browns death in the early 1800s. And so were having a little bit of a Family Reunion here for the summer of 2017. So that fighting then brings soldiers from up and down the east coast together. You think about that gallery that centers on the liberty tree, for about a decade, colonial americans had been forming a kind of imagined community. They had started to feel empathy for one another. Such that when the coercive acts are passed and britain is bottled up and sorry, written britain bottles up the boston shuts the port down, humble farmers in places like pennsylvania and new jersey will put flour on a wagon and send to the beleaguered subjects who are living in boston. They started to imagine themselves as americans and have this kind of empathy for one another. But what happens is, because the fighting sparks and men from all these colonies stream together, they find that they have a ways to go before they see themselves as fellow americans. So this gallery is about the beginning of that quest for unity. Flying over this scene is kind of the next evolution of that flag. You recognize the british canton, this is still a fight to restore our rights as englishmen, but now the 13 alternating red and white stripes representing the 13 colonies who have joined in union here. The scene and we refer to this as a tableau. These are actually life cast figures. We have pulled molds off of faces and hands and bodies and very carefully researched and hand sewn this clothing to compensate the photographs from the 18th century. Its based on a deposition of a man named israel trask. In 1775, he was this 10yearold boy in the red coat whose father had brought him to war. He was a massachusetts boy. These were Yankee Fishermen who were in a regiment from the north shore, north of boston, they encountered a group of virginia riflemen who had come in their fringe hunting shirts trying to appear like American Indians. They come together around the college buildings, Harvard College at the time, now harvard university, and a fight breaks out between these men from the two different regions. 1845 ink italy 1845 remembered that George Washington rode into the scene and broke up the soldiers fight. This is the moment when washington is writing home to his brother in virginia talking about the challenges that he was facing of trying to get men for whom their colony was their country to think of themselves as americans. And so we think this is sort of a wonderful storytelling device to point out how long that journey would be, perhaps a journey that is not even finished yet today, for us all to see ourselves as americans , despite our diversity. Each one of the cases in this gallery explores one of the three sort of big participants in this tableau. New englanders, southern riflemen, George Washington himself. So in this case, these are items that reflect the military traditions of new englanders in the period and the red coat in the back, which is on loan to us from a private collector, is one of the few surviving garments from an american participant in the revolutionary war. That was worn by a man who fought at the battle of bunker hill. And, of course, some people say, well, a red coat, isnt that british . Remember, were all british at this point. This is not yet a fight for american independence. Right beside him, this leather bound book is a bible that was carried by another soldier, in this case from ipswich, massachusetts, francis mayorfield who had it in his pocket at the battle of bunker hill. That night when they retreated, he sat down and wrote a short account of the fighting at bunker hill. He thanked god for preserving his life dedicated his life to the glory of god for having saved his life in this terrible battle at bunker hill. So, its amazing stuff. So what about the riflemen from the south . This is a great group of objects that reflect the sort of Southern Military tradition, men from pennsylvania, maryland, and virginia, from the back country, this is one of only a handful of fringed rifle shirts that have survived. There is only three or four of these that have survived from the revolutionary era. This is from the collection of the American Museum in philadelphia. The rifle is the earliest signed and dated american rifle from inonial america, 1761, made redding, pennsylvania, a very distinctive type, a type of rifle used by men from these compensatelonies to southern colonies to use the great accuracy of these firearms to compensate for not having as many men as the british army had. And finally, a tombstone that stood in Trinity Church yard near ground zero in new york city, in memory of a man who was a captain of a rifle regiment raised in western maryland. And he died in new york in 1775 having marched to boston and contracted fever. Thats a great object that remembers michael cresap. Finally, George Washington himself, through the courtesy of two institutions very generously lending these objects, we have brought together, we think for the First Time Since 1776, a portrait of George Washington s painted here in philadelphia in the summer of 1776. This was commissioned by john hancock, painted by Charles Wilson peale. If you see over the shoulder of general washington, that lou ribbon, that wide blue ribbon. This was a mark that washington purchased in boston in 1775 to distinguish himself. Of course, this is primarily a new england army that this virginian has been appointed to command. Nobody knows who is in charge. The first thing he does is purchase this ribbon to mark him as the commander in chief. Here below the portrait is the actual, original ribbon, which washington gave to the painter, Charles Wilson peale, later during the revolutionary war and then descended and is now in the collection of harvards peabody museum. And so this gallery then sort of takes you through the end of 1775. And it is now january of 1776 gallery, which we revolution, everything changed in 1776, really focused in on the Independence Movement and the big change now from appealing to the king to try to resolve these differences to deciding that the king was the enemy and that the only solution was to declare independence. So one of the things we try to do in this gallery is to sort of invert the narrative that many of us were taught in school , which was viewing the declaration of independence as this document that sprung from the mind of thomas jefferson, shared with members of congress, passed and then announced to all of us, the citizens of america. Were trying to point out that as jefferson himself said, the declaration of independence was an expression of the american mind. And so in the early part of the gallery here, we try to look at the, all of the other declarations of independence that preceded the declaration of independence of july 1776. We do that through this touch screen interactive where you can scroll through the months from january through to july and as you can see, as i do that, the colonies are populated with these little blue circles. What those are showing you is in each one of the colonies, local declarations of independence, in this case representatives from Charlotte County voting to support independence april 23, 1776. In south carolina, for instance, a grand jury voting to support independence. These are often actions by courts, a grand jury voting to support independence in april. If you go to pennsylvania, for instance, military organization like a militia group, crawford battalion of associate ors associaters who is voting for independence in june. Massachusetts itself which really puts the question of independence to all of the towns. These are all towns that voted to support independence and send instructions to their delegates. So, its really extraordinary. Can you also explore the opinions of colonial americans, so here floora mcdonald who is actually a loyalist and her sentiments on this question. So, again, not everyone was in support of independence, there were those who felt this was a leap in the dark. One of them literally described this as a leap in the dark and why on earth would you declare independence from the greatest empire in the world . They were behind the resistance movement, but there were those who said they could not go and actually imagine declaring independence, that that was an act of treason that was too horrible to imagine. So we explore this story also through original objects. These are some works on paper , an actual, original printing of a proclamation by king george iii for suppressing rebellion and sedition. This was passed in august of 1775. The news of this and king georges speech to parliament , delivered in october of 1775, which declared the colonists in rebellion, all arrive in philadelphia in january of 1776, the same week as a pamphlet is published just a block from where were standing at the museum of American Revolution by thomas payne, who is a failed english corset maker. He had tried to be a tax collector. He really did not find his way until he realized he could make an amazing career for himself writing. And he wrote a pamphlet called common sense, which in plain ryday language here language here and this is an english reprinting of that commona pamphlet sense addressed to the inhabitants of america calls for an independent nation to be created that all of the states should become republics, he rejects monarchy as a system of government and the king is cast as an enemy rather than a protector of the people. This is when it becomes an American Revolution. Of in this gallery we kind unpack the story of the declaration of independence. We have a small theater which explores the actual process of drafting and passing the declaration of independence. We rotate on display printings of the declaration. Of course, we are all familiar with the copy you can see in washington, d. C. At the national archives. Other than members of congress, very few people ever saw that document, certainly in the 18th further. Most people encountered text of the declaration either from newspaper or broadside printings or having it read out loud in their various communities. So we rotate on display different printings of the declaration. Right now we have one of the rarest, actually, is a germanlanguage printing here in the center. There are only two copies of this july 1776 printing of the declaration in german that have survived, and this has been shared with us by Gettysburg College in pennsylvania. Its side by side with a salem, massachusetts, printing of the declaration. We also also explore the promise of equality. So this notion that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. That is language, that each person has to decide, does that apply to me . So the people who wrote those words didnt actually recognize the revolutionary potential in them. Some people like john adams who we think probably did realize that when you declare that all men are created equal, people might say, well, what about women . What about enslaved people, laboring men . So we try to explore that story through this wall here where we look at the status of laboring men, of enslaved people, of women, including abigail adams. We also explore the foundations of religious freedom through a group of objects representing different communities of faith in the colonies. So these on the left, these were eme. Re known as remon these were very highly decorated finnalls to cover the ends of the torah that were used by Jewish Community here that still is an active community in philadelphia. We have a weather vane from one of the first lutheran churches in trapp, pennsylvania, 1743. We even represent the presence of islam in america, very difficult to document through material culture, but a very small charm, this is a little copper charm with an inscription from the koran that was excavated in pennsylvania from an Archeological Site dating from the 18th century, perhaps owned by an enslaved african who was muslim. So its really tremendous to be able to have this tradition represented through an object in the museum. When you get to this point in the galleries, you then encounter the statue of king george iii. We bring you back to that moment when that started when that declaration of independence was being read in march, 1776. We have a sailor who is offering you a rope that he is throwing down to try to invite you to consider, where would you have stood at this point in the story . You heard what the loyalists critique is. You see the people trying to remain neutral. You see fervent revolutionaries, we also want you to feel you had a choice and that the outcome was quite uncertain. We have on display the large lumps in the case on loan to us from the new york Historical Society are fragments of the original statue that stood there at the Bowling Green. It was composed of a gilt lead, so there was about 4000 pounds of lead in large streets. That was broken apart into pieces and turned into 42,000 musket balls. Which returned to ammunition for the Continental Army. Those musket balls were referred to as melted majesty, it was issued out the Continental Army and fired back at the ministerial troops, as they called them. So there is only few fragments of that statue that have survived. Its a great story. Announcer up next on american artifacts, and the second of philadelphias museum of the a twopart visit to American Revolution, Vice President of collections Scott Stephenson leads us on a tour of the exhibit galleries covering the years 17761778. Mr. Stephenson we ask visitors in the prairie first gallery four Big Questions to frame their journey through the gallery. The first of those questions is how did people become revolutionaries . When they come back to the statue of king george iii, they should be able to that question of how people become revolutionaries