1776 (undated)
Description
This is Franz Xaver Habermann s engraving, showing his conception of the unrest gripping the city of New York following the reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776 and the onset of the American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783). The view refers to a historical event: The reading of the Declaration so emboldened the patriotic crowd that they tore down the statue of King George III, decapitated it, broke it into pieces - and shipped the remains to Connecticut, where the 4000 pounds of lead were melted down to cast 40,000 bullets, to be used against the British. (The head was set on a pike outside of Moore’s Tavern near Fort Washington, but was rescued by loyalists - including British officer, military engineer and mapmaker John Montresor - and eventually sent back to England.) New Yorkers never