Anne Whitney
Anne Whitney (September 2, 1821 – January 23, 1915) was an American sculptor and poet. She made full-length and bust sculptures of prominent political and historical figures, and her works are in major museums in the United States. She received ...
created two public statues of
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, an ...
. One, made in 1876, resides in the
National Statuary Hall Collection
The National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol is composed of statues donated by individual states to honor persons notable in their history. Limited to two statues per state, the collection was originally set up in the old ...
in the
US Capitol
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...
,
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
The other, made in 1880, is located in front of
Faneuil Hall Plaza in Boston.
National Statuary Hall
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
asked each state to provide the nation's capitol with two statues of prominent individuals. Some thought that
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...
, Samuel's cousin and also a president, should have been chosen, but at the time Samuel Adams was the most popular figure in the state's history.
Having written thousands of letters to political leaders and newspapers, he was called "the most persuasive political writers of all time" by
George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...
.
Whitney won a contest in 1873 to create a statue of Samuel Adams,
one of the requirements being that the statue be carved in Italy from a plaster cast made in Boston. She traveled to Italy in 1875 to acquire
Carrara marble
Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa ...
for the sculpture.
It was sent to Washington, D.C. in 1876, the country's centennial.
In a verse that mocked the judges who first selected her in a blind competition to create a statue for
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...
, but deselected her when they found out that she was a woman, a verse was published in ''
New York Evening Telegram
''The New York Evening Telegram'' was a New York City daily newspaper. It was established in 1867. The newspaper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., and it was said to be considered to be an evening edition of the ''New York Herald''.
F ...
'' that stated, "Yet under the dome of the Capitol / Stands Samuel Adams erect and tall, / As free as his namesake before the fall; / And though the image was carved by woman / Rarely is marble so grandly human."
The statue was unveiled in the Capitol on December 19, 1876.
[Murdock, Myrtle Chaney, National Statuary Hall in the Nation’s Capitol, Monumental Press, Inc., Washington, D.C., 1955 p. 45.]
Faneuil Hall
Before being sent to Washington, D.C. the statue was exhibited at the
Boston Athenæum
The Boston Athenaeum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of a number of membership libraries, for which patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use Athenaeum services. The institution was founded in ...
where it proved to be so popular that the citizens of Boston commissioned a bronze version for the city. The bronze version of the statue on a granite base (1880) was installed on Congress Street in
Faneuil Hall Plaza in Boston, where Adams gave speeches about
British rule
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was hims ...
and
taxation
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...
.
It is based upon the marble statue that she made for the National Statuary Hall Collection. She was requested to make another version by the City of Boston.
Adams attitude suggests one of defiance against British rule, such as the manner in which his arms are crossed,
and determination. Adam's face is finely chiseled, and he wears citizen's clothing of the period. The Revolutionary patriot,
Adams founded the
Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...
with
John Hancock
John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of t ...
to protest unfair taxation on the residents of the colonies.
The statue is meant to convey his attitude at the point, after the
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre (known in Great Britain as the Incident on King Street) was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing t ...
, when Adams demanded that
Governor Thomas Hutchinson remove British troops from the city. The troops were moved to
Castle Island in
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
.
The inscription on the monument states "Samuel Adams 1722–1803 – A Patriot – He organized the Revolution, and signed the Declaration of Independence. Governor – A True Leader of the People. Erected A. D. 1880, from a fund bequeathed to the city of Boston by Jonathan Phillips. A statesman, incorruptible and fearless."
The pedestal is ten feet high. That statue sits upon a polished Quincy granite base and cap and a lower nine-feet square base of unpolished
Quincy granite.
The granite plaza surface is marked for with the approximate location of the early Colonial shoreline c. 1630. The street layout and building plot plan designations from an 1820 map are shown by etched dashed lines and changes from pink granite to grey granite paving slabs. The shoreline marking artwork entitled, ''
A Once and Future Shoreline,'' is made with etched silhouettes of seaweed, sea grass, fish, shells and other materials found along a high tide line.
It first stood in Adams Square, but was moved for the construction of the
Government Center.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
''Samuel Adams'' Architect of the Capitol
Boston sculpture
{{Portal bar, United States, Visual arts
1876 sculptures
1880 sculptures
Arts in Boston
Cultural depictions of Samuel Adams
Government Center, Boston
Monuments and memorials in Boston
Monuments and memorials in Washington, D.C.
Adams, Samuel
Outdoor sculptures in Massachusetts
Sculptures of men in Massachusetts
Sculptures of men in Washington, D.C.
Statues in Boston
Statues in Washington, D.C.
Statues of activists
Statues of U.S. Founding Fathers