A Better War: Post-Civil War, Re-remembering the American Revolution and the Founding of the Republic
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Keystone View Company, Interior of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA, ca. 1927.
Keystone View Company, Interior of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA, ca. 1927.
The Hall’s artifacts are portrayed as relics. The historical site becomes a holy space and a place of pilgrimage. Franklin’s quote is used to connect religion with history and politics. The notion of America as a divinely ordained body politic of chosen people is woven into the historical narrative. By allowing the viewer to also “be” in Independence Hall, the stereograph is including s/he, the contemporary American, in this orderly and grand history.
