National Statuary Hall Collection Flashcards
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Hannibal Hamlin
- *State:** Maine
- *Stop:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Charles E. Tefft
Important Facts:
1809 - 1891. Lawyer. Respected statesman. Elected to Congress in 1842. Served a number of times as Senator. Abraham Lincoln’s first Vice President, then Minister to Spain. He also served as a regent of the Smithsonian Institution and what is now Colby College.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Daniel Webster
- *State:** New Hampshire
- *Site:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Carl Conrads (after Thomas Ball)
Important Facts:
1782 - 1852. A central figure in our national history, Daniel Webster was a legendary orator. Elected first to the House in 1812 and then the Senate in 1830, he forcefully and eloquently defended the unity of the nation and argued against nullification, or the theory that States have the ability to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law it deemed unconstitutional. Webster supported the Compromise of 1850 to avoid civil war but resigned due to the law’s deep unpopularity in Massachusetts. Webster served two administrations as Secretary of State.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Barry Goldwater
- *State:** Arizona
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Deborah Coppenhaver Fellows
Important Facts:
1909 - 1998. Served five terms as Senator for AZ. Was the 1964 Republican candidate for President. A spokesman for his party’s conservative causes, he voted against the Civil Rights Act believing it too great and intrusion on the rights of states and individuals. Son elected to House in 1969, becoming the first son to serve in House while father served in the Senate.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Charles M. Russell
- *State:** Montana
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: John B. Weaver
Important Facts:
1864 - 1924. Went to Montana at age 16 to become a cowboy, but didn’t do well at it. Gradually, art became his profession instead, painting over 2,000 scenes of indians, cowboys, and western life that appealed to big city residents. First shown in saloons and general stores, he became highly successful and exhibited around the country and world. By 1920, his works were selling for as much as $10,000. He was also a talented sculptor of the same scenes.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Frances Willard
- *State:** Illinois
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Hellen Farnsworth Mears
Important Facts:
1839 - 1898. Associated with the evangelical movement, she was a pioneer of the temperance movement and was also known for her contributions to women’s higher education and women’s rights. Served as president of the first women’s college to confer degrees. Helped found and became first president of the National Council of Women.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Rosa Parks
- *Commissioned by Congress**
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Daub and Firmin Studios, LLC
Important Facts:
1913 - 2005. Legendary civil rights icon. Involved in the NAACP and fought against racial segregation. Famously arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a newly boarded white passenger and move to the back of the bus. This triggered the Montgomery bus boycotts that would involve Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and end when the Supreme Court ruled public bus segregation unconstitutional. In 1999, Parks would be honored with the Congressional Gold Medal and, when she died, became the first woman and only the 5th private citizen to lie in honor within the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** John Gorrie, MD
- *State:** Florida
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: C.A. Pillars
Important Facts:
1802 - 1855. Gorrie studied medicine, focusing on tropical diseases. He advocated for the the draining of swamps and sleeping under mosquito nets to prevent disease. His most significant contribution is in pioneering artificial air conditioning, which he used to treat patients.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Dr. Norman E Borlaug
- *State:** Iowa
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Benjamin Victor
Important Facts:
1914 - 2009. Impacted by his experience witnessing desperate people begging for food during the Great Depression, Borlaug helped to develop crops adapted to specific climate regions, leading to dramatically increased yields across the globe. He was involved in the field of education and training young scientists. Borlaug was a recipient of the Nobel Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Media, and was honored for his contributions to feeding the world by the United Nations, governments around the world, and humanitarian organizations.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Thomas Hart Benton
- *State:** Missouri
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Alexander Doyle
Important Facts:
1782 - 1858. Landowner and lawyer. Served under Jackson under the war of 1812. Elected as one of Missouri’s first two senators in 1820, serving for 30 years. Proposed the 49 degree parallel as the Canada-US border. His opposition to slavery cost him his senate seat. Afterwards, he was elected to the House of Representatives for a term. Wrote books and lectured on Congress during the last three years of his life.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Henry Clay
- *State:** Kentucky
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Charles H. Neihaus
Important Facts:
1777 - 1852. A central figure of early 19th century American politics and a brilliant man, Clay only had three years of formal education in a small school. He would become a skilled lawyer. Clay served a number of terms in both the Senate and House of Representatives, was Speaker of the House from 1811 - 1820, was a member of the Ghent Peace Commission that ended the War of 1812, served as Secretary of State from 1825-1829, ran as Whig nominee for President in 1832, and authored both the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850, both of which attempted to prevent civil war.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Ethan Allen
- *State:** Vermont
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Larkin G. Mead
Important Facts:
1738 - 1789. Founder of the state of Vermont. Allen formed the Green Mountain Boys militia. A famous and successful general during the Revolutionary War, Generals Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured Ft. Ticonderoga. Tried successfully to get Vermont admitted as a state but died two years before it was admitted to the Union.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Alexander Hamilton Stephens
- *State:** Georgia
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Gutzon Borglum
Important Facts:
1812 - 1883. Orphaned and penniless at 15, Stephens studied with the charity of others and through work. He graduated from the University of Georgia and became a lawyer. He served in the Georgia legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives. Opposed to secession and differing with Jefferson Davis over states’ rights and nullification, he nonetheless served as vice president of the Confederacy. After the war, he served again in the U.S. House of Representatives, and briefly as governor of Georgia before his death.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Bringham Young
- *State:** Utah
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Mahonri Young
Important Facts:
1801 - 1877. Became a member of the Church-of-Latter-Day-Saints, becoming its President following the death of its leader, Joseph Smith. Fleeing persecution, he led a party of 147 men to the Salt Lake Valley and organized the emigration of 70,000 pioneers. Young became the first governor of Utah and helped establish many communities across the American west stretching between Mexico and Canada.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Lewis Cass
- *State:** Michigan
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Daniel Chester French
Important Facts:
1782 - 1866. Served in the Ohio Legislature and as U.S. Marshal in Ohio. Fought in the war of 1812 and was appointed as the governor of the Territory of Michigan from 1813 - 1831. Cass served as minister to France, U.S. Senator, Democratic Nominee for president, and Secretary of War. A strong supporter of the Union, he served as President Buchanan’s Secretary of State but resigned in protest of the president’s decision not to reinforce the forts of Charleston. He lived to see the outcome of the Civil War.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Zebulon Vance
- *State:** North Carolina
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Gutzon Borglum
Important Facts:
1830 - 1894. Served in the U.S. House of Representatives for North Carolina from 1851-1861. A Unionist, he did not support secession until Lincoln called up troops. He then served in the Rough and Ready Guards. He served as Governor of North Carolina during the Civil War and afterwards. He would serve as U.S. Senator from 1879 until his death in 1894, serving as an effective and popular mediator between North and South.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** George Laird Shoup
- *State:** Idaho
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Frederick E. Triebel
Important Facts:
1836 - 1904. After his family was virtually bankrupted during the financial panic of 1857, they moved westward. During the Civil War, he would serve in Colorado. After the war, he would eventually settle in and help found Salmon, Idaho. He would serve as the governor of Idaho Territory, and governor following the ratification of Idaho’s statehood. He served as U.S. Senator from 1890 - 1901. As chairman of the Committee on Territories, he advocated liberal and just treatment of the Indians.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Marcus Whitman
- *State:** Washington
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Avard Fairbanks
Important Facts:
1802 - 1847. Whitman studied medicine and married teacher Narcissa Prentis, who wished to perform missionary work in the west. The two traveled west, establishing several missions and their own settlement in Washington. Whitman farmed and provided medical treatment while Narcissa taught classes to Indian children. Both were killed due my Native Americans due to the false belief that Whitman was causing the death of his patients, who had in fact died of lack of immunity to European introduced diseases.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** The Honorable John Burke
- *State:** North Dakota
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Avard Fairbanks
Important Facts:
1859 - 1937. Burke served in both houses of the North Dakota legislature. He also served as Governor, where as a reformer, he eliminated corrupt political control and initiated many reforms. He served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of North Dakota.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Thomas Edison
- *State:** Ohio
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Alan Cottrill
Important Facts:
1847 - 1931. One of the world’s most celebrated and prolific inventors, Edison amassed over a thousand patents in his lifetime. He received his first patent for an electric voice recorder in 1857. Among his inventions were the first commercially viable electric lighting and pioneering solutions for the film industry. During and after his lifetime, Edison received many awards from across the nation and world for his contributions to his country and mankind, including the Congressional Gold Medal.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** John Sevier
- *State:** Tennessee
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Belle Kinney and Leopold F. Scholz
Important Facts:
1745 - 1815. Moved west to the Appalachians. Fought during the Revolutionary War with distinction. Tried unsuccessfully to establish an independent state called Franklin from territory of North Carolina. Pardoned and elected to the NC state senate in 1789. Became the first governor of Tennessee (1796-1801, 1803-1809) and elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1811.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** John Ingalls
- *State:** Kansas
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Charles H. Niehaus
Important Facts:
1833 - 1900. Moved to Kansas in 1860. Joined anti-slavery forces and helped make Kansas a free state. Became a state senator and secretary of the first state senate when Kansas became part of the Union. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1873, serving for 18 years. Served as president pro tempore of the Senate.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Robert La Follette
- *State:** Wisconsin
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Jo Davidson
Important Facts:
1855 - 1925. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from 1885-1891. Elected Governor in 1900. His “Wisconsin Idea” called for many reforms, including opposing the influence of party bosses. It became an important element of the Progressive Movement. He served as U.S. Senator where he continued to champion progressive reforms. Lost the Progressive Party nomination to Theodore Roosevelt. Opposed involvement in World War I and the foreign policy of Woodrow Wilson. Ran unsuccessfully for president in 1924 on the Progressive Party ticket.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Robert Fulton
- *State:** Pennsylvania
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Howard Roberts
Important Facts:
1765-1815. Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and moved to Philadelphia to become an artist he moved to London for health reasons. There, his interests in science, particularly the application of steam and the building of canals, supplanted his art career. He honed his scientific skills inventing and building for a number of European countries. In 1802, Fulton contracted with Robert Livingston to build a steamboat for use on the Hudson River in New York. On August 17, 1807, Fulton’s first steamship Clermont sailed from New York for Albany, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world. He is buried in New York’s historic Trinity Church cemetary alongside many notable early American leaders.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Uriah Milton Rose
- *State:** Arkansas
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Frederic W. Ruckstull
Important Facts:
1834-1913. A lifelong practitioner of law, Rose was an influential member of the Arkansas Bar association, serving as its president 1899-1900. He was a charter member of the American Bar Association and its president from 1901-1902. President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him a delegate to the Second Peace Conference at The Hague in 1907, which, along with the Geneva conventions, became the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Jefferson Davis
- *State:** Mississippi
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Augustus Lukeman
Important Facts:
1808-1889. Born in Kentucky and raised on his family farm in Mississippi. Graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1828 and served in the U.S. army until 1835. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1845 but resigned to command the “Mississippi Rifles” in the Mexican War. Served as Senator from 1845-51 and as Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce (1853-1857). When Mississippi seceded, he resigned and accepted command of Mississippi’s military forces. He was elected president of the Confederate States. After the war, he was imprisoned for two years and indicted for treason but never tried. Released on bond in 1867, he traveled widely, tried his hand unsuccessfully at business, and finally retired to Bilox, Mississippi to write “Rise and Fall of the Confederate States”.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Henry Mower Rice
- *State:** Minnesota
- *Location:** Sanctuary Hall
Artist: Frederick E. Triebel
Important Facts:
1816-1894. Moving to Minnesota, he became a fur trader with the Winnebago and Chippewa indians, attaining a position of prominence, influence, and trust instrumental in negotiating the U.S. treaty with the Ojibway Indians in 1847. He lobbied to establish Minnesota Territory, served as its delegate in the U.S. Congress, facilitated Minnesota’s statehood, and was elected as one of its first senators, serving until 1863. As U.S. Commissioner, he continued to negotiate treaties with the Indians. Rice also served as a regent for the University of Minnesota and president of Minnesota Historical Society.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Reverend Jason Lee
- *State:** Oregon
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Gifford MacGregor Proctor
Important Facts:
1803-1906. A minister and missionary who traveled to the Pacific Northwest to establish missions among the indians. He eventually settled on the Willamette River near present day Salem, Oregon. Lee was instrumental in the effort to establish of an American territorial government in the Pacific Northwest and played a role in its early organization. Lee also played a role in education and helped found the Oregon Institute, now Willamette University.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Francis H Pierpont
- *State:** West Virginia
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Franklin Simmons
Important Facts:
1814-1899. A lawyer and an ardent supporter of Abraham Lincoln. When Virginia seceded in the Civil War, Pierpont organized a convention of Unionists, declared that the elected officials of Virginia had abandoned their post, and was elected provision governor of Virginia. A new legislature was set up, a new constitution drafted, and representatives seated in the Federal Congress. The state adopted the name West Virginia when admitted into the Union in 1863. Pierpont became governor of the “restored” state of Virginia. After the war, he practiced law in WV, served in the state legislature and as collector of Internal Revenue under President Garfield.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Sequoya
- *State:** Oregon
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Vinnie Ream (completed by G. Julian Zolnay)
Important Facts:
1770-1843. Inventor of the Cherokee language. His alphabet was also adopted by the missionaries. Moved to Cherokees in Oklahoma, served as political envoy to Washington for his tribe, and helped Cherokees displaced from eastern lands. The National Cherokee Council awarded him with a medal and an annuity for his work. He died while searching for a band of Cherokees that had moved to Mexico before the revolution. The location of his grave is unknown. Two species of redwood trees are named after him.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Lewis Wallace
- *State:** Indiana
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Andrew O’Connor
Important Facts:
1827-1905. Wallace’s father was elected governor of Indiana in 1837. He served as a reporter until the Mexican War broke out and he left to raise a company of soldiers. After the war, he served in the Indiana State Senate. During the Civil War, he saved Cincinnati from the Confederate Army and delayed the Confederate advance on Washington, allowing for its successful defense. He served on the court-martial tribunal of accomplices of John Wilkes Booth in the assisination of Lincoln. Wallace was governor of the New Mexico Territory from 1878-1881, and minister to Turkey from 1881-1885. A lecturer and author, he authored the immensely popular book, “Ben Hur”.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Father Junipero Serra
- *State:** California
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Ettore Cadorin
Important Facts:
1713-1784. Joined the Franciscan order at age 16 and became an accomplished preacher and professor of theology. He arrived in Mexico City in 1750 to fulfill his dream of becoming a missionary in America. In 1769 he established a mission in what is now San Diego. It was the first of a series of missions he would found that included San Antonio, San Buenaventura, San Carlos, San Francisco de Assisi, San Gabriel, San Juan Capistrano, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Clara.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Joseph Wheeler
- *State:** Alabama
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Berthold Nebel
Important Facts:
1836-1906. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, he resigned to join Confederate forces in 1861 and served as one of Robert E. Lee’s leading cavalry generals, known as “Fighting Joe”. After the war, be served in the U.S. House of Representatives and sought to heal the breach between north and south, and championed economic policies that helped the south. Appointed by McKinley as major general of volunteers during the Spanish-American war, he saw action as a cavalry commander in Cuba. Wheeler also commanded a brigade during the Philippine Insurrection (1899-1900) as a brigadier general in the U.S. Regular Army.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Sam Houston
- *State:** Texas
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Elisabet Ney
Important Facts:
1793-1863. Houston only had a year of formal education and lived 3 years with Cherokee Indians. He served under Andrew Jackson during the war of 1812. Studied law, became attorney general of Nashville district, and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Elected governor of Tennessee but resigned in 1829 to rejoin Cherokees when his wife left him. A key figure in the early formation of Texas. As its commander-in-chief, he secured Texas independence and was elected the Republic’s president from 1836-1838 and 1841-1845. Upon Texas’ entrance into the Union, he was elected one of the state’s first senators. A staunch unionist, he was to the only southerner to vote for the Compromise of 1850, opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and voted against secession. Despite charges of treason and cowardice, he was elected governor but deposed when he refused to take the Confederate Oath of Allegiance.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Huey Pierce Long
- *State:** Louisiana
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Charles Keck
Important Facts:
1893-1935. Unable to attend college due to lack of money, Long first worked as a salesman but eventually study law and was admitted to the bar in 1915. Defeated for Louisiana governor in 1824, he was elected in 1928 campaigning on a platform of free school books, paved roads and improved hospitals. His aggressive use of authority and state funds led to his near impeachment. Served in the U.S. Senate in 1930. Long was assassinated by Dr. Carl Weiss while visiting the Louisiana state house in 1935. He is buried on the grounds of the state capitol.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** William Jennings Bryan
- *State:** Nebraska
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: Rudulph Evans
Important Facts:
1860-1925. Moved to Nebraska, studied law and started a political career. Served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1890-1894. Bryan was an eloquent speaker and lecturer, and was involved in various publications. His economic views reflected the plight of post-Civil War agrarian communities of the south and midwest. Three times a presidential nominee, he was a pivotal figure in Democratic party politics, helping Woodrow Wilson obtain the presidential nomination in 1912. He served as Wilson’s secretary of state but, as a pacifist, Bryan resigned before America entered WWI. A deeply religious man, he was attorney for the prosecution in the well-know Scopes trial on the teaching of evolution.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Crawford W. Long, MD
- *State:** Georgia
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: J. Massey Rhind
Important Facts:
1815-1878. A quiet country doctor, Long was the first to discover the effects of ether and use it as anethesia in surgery, revolutionizing modern surgical operations. He settled in Athens, Georgia and opened a successful medical practice and apothecary shop, using ether in childbirth cases and doing much charitable work among the poor. He died of heart failure at the bedside of a mother who had just given birth.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Robert E. Lee
- *State:** Virginia
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Edward V. Valentine
Important Facts:
1807-1870. From a famous Virginia family, Lee graduated from the U.S. Military Academy, serving in several military roles, including superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy. When the civil war broke out, he resigned, and reluctantly accepted command of the Virginia’s armed forces. A skilled military commander, he was appointed commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865. He was paroled and became president of what is now Washington and Lee College in 1865 until his death.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Nathaniel Greene
- *State:** Rhode Island
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Henry Kirke Brown
Important Facts:
1742-1786. One of the most distinguished generals of the Revolutionary War, Green served as a brigadier general first for the Rhode Island Militia and later the Continental Army. He participated in the siege of Boston, assisted Washington in the fighting in Trenton, and took the battle to the southern states as commander of the Army of the South, liberating Charleston, the last southern British-held city. He settled in Savannah, Georgia after the war and is buried beneath the Green Monument there.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Robert Livingston
- *State:** New York
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Erastus Dow Palmer
Important Facts:
1746-1813. Founding father and one of five statesmen that drafted the Declaration of Independence. Studied at King’s College (now Columbia University) and befriended John Jay. Served in the Continental Congress and as New York State chancellor (highest judicial position), swearing in George Washington as the first president. Livingston served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 1781-1783, and negotiated the Louisiana Purchase as Jefferson’s minister to France. There, he met Robert Fulton and commissioned him to build the world’s first commercial steamboat. Later in life, he experimented with agricultural techniques, founded and became the first president of the American Academy of Fine Art, and was a trustee of the New York Society Library.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Richard Stockton
- *State:** New Jersey
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Henry Kirke Brown (completed by H.K. Bush-Brown)
Important Facts:
1730-1781. An accomplished legal mind, legislator, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Stockton was initially uninterested in politics. Eventually, he served in the governing council of New Jersey and was appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Initially hesitant to separate the colonies from England, he changed his mind after the Stamp Act. He was elected to the Continental Congress. Shortly after signing the Declaration, Stockton was imprisoned but the British for a month, where he became ill and died an invalid after his release at Princeton, NJ.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** John Stark
- *State:** New Hampshire
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Carl Conrads
Important Facts:
1728-1822. Growing up in rural New Hampshire allowed him to acquire the survival and scouting skills that would make him an accomplished military leader. Stark served as an officer in Roger’s Rangers during the French and Indian War. A shrewd tacticion and respected leader, during the American Revolution, he would first successfully lead a regiment of New Hampshire Militia and later lead as a brigadier general. Elevated to the rank of major general at the end of the revolution, he retired to his farm in New Hampshire, where he spent the rest of his life.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Ceasar Rodney
- *State:** Delaware
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Bryan Baker
Important Facts:
1728-1784. Rodney served several roles in early Delaware colonial politics. He was an ardent supporter of the Revolution, participating in the First and Second Continent Congresses. He dramatically rode to Philadephia on July 2, 1776 so that Delaware could vote two to one for the Declaration of Independence. A close friend of George Washington, he was elected the first president of Delaware and guided Delaware’s ratification of the Articles of Confederation in 1779. The last ten years of his life were difficult as he suffered from cancer. He died at his farm, Poplar Grove in 1784 and his remains were reinterred in Christ Episcopal Churchyard in Dover, DE.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Samuel Adams
- *State:** Massachussetts
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Anne Whitney
Important Facts:
1722-1803. In 1765, John Hancock and Samuel Adams founded the Sons of Liberty. Opposed the Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act of 1765, and the Townshend Acts of 1767. In 1772, he helped lead the Non-Importation Association and the Boston Tea Party. Initiated the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence and drafted the Boston Declaration of Rights. Served as a member of the Massachusetts General Court from 1765 to 1775, member of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1781. Voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence. Member of the convention to ratify the Constitution. From 1789 to 1793 served as lieutenant governor under John Hancock. Served as governor from 1794 to 1797.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** John Muhlenberg
- *State:** Pennsylvania
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Blanche Nevin
Important Facts:
1746-1807. Serving first as a soldier and minister, Muhlenberg served in the Pennsylvania House of Burgesses in 1774. Two years later, he took part in the Revolutionary War, raising a militia, commissioned by the Continental Army as a brigadier general and later as a major general. Muhlenberg was elected to the Supreme Executive Council in 1784, served as Pennsylvania’s vice-president from 1785-88, and was elected to the first Congress of 1788-89 as well as successive congresses. Elected to the Senate in 1801, he resigned to accept an appointment as supervisor of revenue for Philadelphia, which he served as until his death in 1807.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** John C. Calhoun
- *State:** South Carolina
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Frederick W. Ruckstull
Important Facts:
1782-1850. Along with Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, Calhoun played an outsized role in early 19th century American politics. Serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1811-1817 and a staunch nationalist and “War Hawk”, he resigned from the House to serve as President Monroe’s secretary of war. Calhoun served both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson as vice president. As secretary of state for President Tyler, he helped secure the annexation of Texas. A great orator and political theoretician, he became the leading spokesman for the South while trying to prevent the dissolution of the Union.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Charles Brantley Aycock
- *State:** North Carolina
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Charles Keck
Important Facts:
1859-1912. A talented orator and debator, Aycock served as an elector for Grover Cleveland and U.S. attorney for the eastern district of North Carolina. Elected governor in 1900, he pursued policies of social reform in support of education, fair election process, child labor, youth reform, and anti-lynching laws. He died in 1912 while campaigning for the U.S. Senate.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Roger Sherman
- *State:** Connecticut
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Chauncey B. Ives
Important Facts:
1721-1793. A respected founding father, Sherman was originally apprenticed to become a cobbler. Instead, he taught himself and later entered the study of law, serving several roles in colonial Connecticut, including as the first and lifelong mayor of New Haven. Sherman was one of the five members of the Continental Congress that drafted the Declaration of Independence. Sherman is responsible for the “Great Compromise” that created the dual system of congressional representation, supporting passage of the new U.S. Constitution. Elected to the first Congress of 1789-1791 and to the senate in 1791, he was one of the most influential members of Congress.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Charles Carroll
- *State:** Maryland
- *Location:** Crypt
Artist: Richard E. Brooks
Important Facts:
1737-1832. Born to a prominent Maryland family and educated in Europe, as a Roman Catholic, Carroll was nonetheless barred from holding public office, practicing law, and voting. Despite this, he found ways to become an active political voice. Commissioned by Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Chase to seek aid from Canada in 1774. Appointed as a delegate to the Continental Congress, he was the only catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. Carroll served in the Maryland state legislature and helped draft the Maryland constitution. Served as Maryland’s first Senator from 1789-1792. Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** James Garfield
- *State:** Ohio
- *Location:** Rotunda
Artist: Charles H. Niehaus
Important Facts:
1831 - 1881. The last of seven presidents to be born in a log cabin, Garfield grew up poor and a farmer. He went on to study law and was elected to the Ohio Senate. During the Civil War, he served as a major general. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives and was elected to the Senate but did not serve as he was also elected President. On July 2, 1881, he was shot by a disgruntled office seeker, Charles J. Guiteau, and died from his wound eleven weeks later.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Dwight David Eisenhower
- *State:** Kansas
- *Location:** Rotunda
Artist: Jim Brothers
Important Facts:
1890-1969. A star halfback at West Point, an injury ended his football career. He continued to rise through the ranks of the military, becoming assistant to General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines, and Commander of U.S. Forces in the European Theater in 1942, directing the invasions of Africa, Sicily, and Italy. Most notably, he took command of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, where he oversaw D-Day and directed allied forces through the end of the war. Eisenhower, commanded occupation forces, became Army Chief of Staff and later commanded NATO military forces. He was elected the nation’s 34th president in 1952 and was re-elected in 1956. His administration saw the end of the Korean War, the continuation of the Cold War, and school desegregation.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Andrew Jackson
- *State:** Tennessee
- *Location:** Rotunda
Artist: Belle Kinney and Leopold F. Scholz
Important Facts:
1767-1845. Orphaned at 14, Jackson went on to study law. Delegate to Tennessee constitutional convention of 1796, U.S. representative (1796-1797), U.S. Senator (1797), member of Tennessee Supreme Court (1798-1804), and major general in the Tennessee militia. He retired for six years after political feuds and duels but when the War of 1812 broke out, he was commissioned a major general in the U.S. Army. He became a hero of the war by defeating the British at the Battle of New Orleans. He invaded Florida in 1818 and, following its cession to the U.S., served as territorial governor in 1821. Served as U.S. Senator to TN (1823-1825). Elected the 7th U.S. President in 1824, he served two terms (1824-1837) and ushered in an era of American politics referred the “Age of Jacksonian Democracy” and the ‘Era of the Common Man.” Ignoring the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court, Jackson ordered the forcible removal of the Cherokee nation from their traditional lands in the southeast to Oklahoma. This forcible removal and migration was known as the “Trail of Tears” because over 4,000 are estimated to have died of hunger, disease, and exposure.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Gerald Ford
- *State:** Michigan
- *Location:** Rotunda
Artist: J Brett Grill
Important Facts:
1913 - 2006. Born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., his mother remarried and he took the name of his stepfather, becoming Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. A champion football player at University of Michigan, he studied law and served in the navy during World War II. Ford served 13 terms (25 years) in the U.S. House of Representatives, becaming minority leader starting in 1965. Served in the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and earned a reputation of fairness and integrity. Selected by Nixon to serve as Vice President following the resignation of Spiro Agnew. When Nixon resigned in 1974, Ford was sworn in as the 38th President of the United States. Ford lost to Jimmy Carter in the election of 1976. Upon his death, his remains lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda from December 30, 2006 - January 2, 2007. He was interred at his Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, MI.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Ronald Reagan
- *State:** California
- *Location:** Rotunda
Artist: Chas Fagan
Important Facts:
1911-2004. 29 year acting career. Two term governor of California. 40th President of the United States (1981-89). In the 1980 election, he won 46 out of 50 states. In the 1984 election, he won 49 out of 50 states. Survived an assassination attempt in 1981 by John Hinkley, Jr. outside the Washington, D.C. Hilton Hotel. Saw our nation through the fall of the Soviet Union and the Cold War. Suffered alzheimer’s disease and died at age 93. After his passing, his remains lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Abraham Lincoln
- *Congressional commission**
- *Location:** Rotunda
Artist: Vinnie Ream
Important Facts:
1809-1865. 16th President of the United States and among our greatest Presidents, Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky. Lawyer. Worked different jobs when young. Served in the Illinois state legislature. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846. Served only one term before resuming private practice. Elected President in 1860 on an anti-slavery platform, triggering the secession of seven southern states from the Union and civil war. Issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Reelected to a second term in 1864, he was committed to restoration of the Union, generous treatment of the southern states, extending civil rights, and giving freed slaves the right to vote. However, he never got to implement his post-war plans as he was assassinated on April 14, 1865 by actor John Wilkes Booth and died the next day. Lincoln’s remains lay in state in the catafalque (viewable in the exhibit hall) in the U.S. Capitol and then travelled across the country to his final resting place in Illinois.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** Alexander Hamilton
- *Congressional commission**
- *Location:** Rotunda
Artist: Horation Stone
Important Facts:
1755-1804. Founding father. Arrived in New York at 12 alone. Supported to further his education. A brilliant mind, others supported his education. Studied in King’s College (now Columbia University). Became artillery captain and aide-de-camp to George Washington during the Revolutionary War, seeing action in Monmouth and Yorktown. Became lawyer and founded the Bank of New York in 1784. Delegate to the Constitutional Convention, he favored a strong central government. Primary author of the Federalist Papers. Appointed by President Washington as the first secretary of the treasury in 1789. Established the credit of the U.S. and its financial system. Served as inspector general of the army under John Adams (1789-1800). Died from a bullet wound inflicted during a duel with political rival Aaron Burr. He is buried in Trinity Church Cemetery in New York.
Who is this person?
- *Name:** William Henry Harrison Beadle
- *State:** South Dakota
- *Location:** Statuary Hall
Artist: H. Daniel Webster
Important Facts:
1838 - 1915. Born in a log cabin. Studied civil engineering and law. Union army general. Appointed by Grant in in 1869 as surveyor-general of Dakota Territory. Helped codify territorial laws. Became superintendent of public construction, drafting school lands provisions (lands set established in support of public education) at the South Dakota constitutional convention of 1885. The effective provisions were consequently also required for North Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming, preserving 22 million acres for public schools. Served as president of Madison State Normal School and taught history.
