Inside Capitol Dome: John Trumbull’s Washington Resigning His Commission | BRIdge from the Past

0:00 Hey everybody and welcome to Bridge from the Past.

0:03 I’m your host Mary and this series is all about using primary source images as

0:07 a starting point to think about important topics in American history and civics.

0:12 This fall we’ve been thinking about the relationship between law and liberty.

0:16 And once again for our image today we’re

0:18 going back inside the US Capitol Building in Washington DC.

0:23 In 1817, Congress commissioned four life

0:26 sized paintings about the American Revolution.

0:29 John Trumbull, the artist, depicted George Washington resigning or

0:34 leaving his post as the leader of the Continental Army.

0:37 As one of these images,

0:39 why was this resignation so important and how does it connect to law and liberty?

0:44 Let’s jump in and see.

0:49 Here is our image.

0:51 The artist is John Trumbull and the painting is entitled

0:54 General George Washington Resigning His Commission.

0:57 The painting was completed in 1826.

1:00 Again, it was requested by the US Congress

1:02 and it hangs in the US Capitol rotunda in its life size.

1:06 So it’s 12 by 18ft.

1:08 So it’s a really big picture hanging inside the US Capitol building.

1:12 And we’re thinking, what is this painting,

1:15 this act of George Washington resigning

1:17 his commission, have to do with law and liberty?

1:21 Whenever you have a primary source image,

1:22 it’s important to just make some observations before you do anything else.

1:26 If you’re using your handout,

1:27 go ahead and pause here and write down some of your observations.

1:32 Here are some things that I notice.

1:34 First and foremost, my eye is drawn to General George Washington.

1:38 He’s right in the middle of the painting and there’s this really cool light that’s

1:43 sort of coming down from both sides and centering on him.

1:46 So he’s right in the middle of the action.

1:48 It looks like everybody’s looking at him in this crowded room.

1:52 There’s all these people, some of them seated, some of them standing.

1:56 There’s even people up here in a gallery.

1:58 All eyes are on Washington.

2:00 The light is on Washington.

2:02 He’s holding some sort of paper that he appears to be giving to these seated men.

2:07 And he’s dressed in a military uniform.

2:11 He has his sword in its sheath by his side and his uniform makes him stand out.

2:16 There’s a couple of other guys here

2:18 in the military uniform, but most of these people aren’t dressed as

2:21 a member of the military and they’re not on a battlefield.

2:24 This is a room somewhere.

2:26 Most of these guys over here are seated and it looks like there’s a big chair here

2:31 behind Washington with some sort of cloak on it.

2:35 So it seems like a big deal that Washington is resigning his commission.

2:40 But I need a little bit more context before I can really jump into my analysis.

2:45 So the first thing we have to know about

2:48 this painting is that this depicts a very specific moment.

2:51 This is on December 23 in 1783,

2:55 George Washington is in fact handing

2:57 in his slip saying I don’t want to do this anymore.

3:01 He has led the Continental Army since 1776, and the war with Britain is over.

3:06 The American colonies are now a new

3:08 nation, and George Washington, as leader of the army, is quitting.

3:13 And nobody can believe it.

3:15 So I think that’s one of the interesting

3:17 things about this painting is that everybody looks fairly calm.

3:21 This guy kind of has his hand on his face

3:24 like but this moment was unprecedented in world history.

3:28 Washington had all this military power.

3:31 He had this glory, he was revered, and he is walking away from power.

3:38 Huge moment, right?

3:39 Julius Caesar couldn’t do it.

3:40 Oliver Cromwell couldn’t do it.

3:42 Napoleon Bonaparte couldn’t do it.

3:44 Everyone was expecting him to stay in power.

3:47 And this chair right here,

3:49 it’s bigger than the other chairs these guys are sitting on.

3:52 It’s almost like a throne, and it has this cloak over it.

3:56 Washington doesn’t want it.

3:58 He doesn’t want that paper.

3:59 He just wants to go home.

4:01 And that is what this moment in time is.

4:04 And when John Trumbull suggested this painting to President James Madison

4:09 at the time, again, this is in 1817, he considered Washington’s resignation

4:14 to be, quote, one of the highest moral lessons ever given to the world.

4:19 We’re in a civilian legislature,

4:22 and Washington is handing power back to the people.

4:25 These are the people represented, elected by the people.

4:28 They have the power.

4:30 Not Washington, not the military.

4:32 The law is supreme.

4:34 But we started by asking what Trumbull’s

4:36 painting could tell us about the rule of law.

4:39 And we learned that the rule of law is

4:41 this idea that no man, no woman, no position is above the law.

4:45 George Washington famously gave up power at the end of the Revolutionary War,

4:49 establishing a precedent of the power of the civilian authority over the military.

4:54 And he ensured that this principle

4:56 of the rule of law was not just an empty promise.

4:59 He acted on it.

5:00 And the world was shocked.

5:03 But as always, there’s so much more to this story.

5:06 So now I turn it over to you.

5:08 What questions did this raise for you?

5:11 What do you want to know more about?

5:13 I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments below.

5:15 If you learned something,

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5:25 I’ll be back soon with another image

5:27 to help us think about the ideas of law and liberty.

5:30 And until then, everybody, whenever you see an image, keep asking questions.

5:35 Take care, everyone.

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