Collections for the Classroom: Why the Revolution Matters
Alabama State Department of Education Mega Conference and Alabama Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference
virtual July 12-16 and April 10, 2021
During this workshop for Alabama educators the American Revolution Institute was joined by two of its talented master teachers from Alabama to introduce the free resources, materials and opportunities we offer to K-12 educators to assist them in communicating the Revolution’s achievements and legacy to their students, including:
our online strategy game Revolutionary Choices,
our digital textbook Why America is Free,
our lesson plan series developed by Institute staff and teachers from across the country,
our week-long residential master teacher seminar in Washington, DC (and other regional professional development opportunities),
our Teaching Associates program,
our Collections for the Classroom database highlighting items from our library and museum,
our classroom videos, and
our Continental Army and Revolutionary War at Sea traveling trunks.
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Marquis de Lafayette to General Nathanael Greene
August 25, 1781
The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati
page 1
Lafayette is writing to General Greene while in command of American forces at Malvern Hill near Ruffin's Ferry, Virginia, where he awaited the arrival of Washington's army. His letter includes troop movements and field developments during the southern campaign that concluded the revolutionary war: "The first destination is against His Lordship [i.e., Cornwallis].... The General directs that I should prevent the enemy from escaping through North Carolina."
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Marquis de Lafayette to General Nathanael Greene
August 25, 1781
The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati
page 2
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Marquis de Lafayette to General Nathanael Greene
August 25, 1781
The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati
page 3
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Marquis de Lafayette to General Nathanael Greene
August 25, 1781
The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati
page 4
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Jug commemorating the marquis de Lafayette's tour
Richard Hall & Son, Staffordshire, England
ca.1824
The Society of the Cincinnati, gift of the Friends of the Boush-Tazewell House, Inc., 1991
One side bears a portrait of Lafayette (based on Ary Scheffer's full-length oil portrait painted by 1824) with the slogan "The Nation's Guest." The other side of the jug has a portrait of George Washington and related text. Made for export to the American market.
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Marquis de Lafayete
ca. 1825-1830
The Society of the Cincinnati, Museum Acquisitions Fund purchase, 2005
This alabaster portrait bust was probably made in Europe for the American market and sold during the last part of Lafayette's triumphal visit to the United States or shortly after his return to France.
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Plate commemorating the landing of General Lafayette at Castle garden in New York, 16th August 1824
Clews, Staffordshire, England
ca. 1824
Gift of Eugene W. Potter, New York State Society of the Cincinnati, 1991
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Le General Lafayette
Achile Moreau, engraver, after Jean August Dubouloz, artist
1825
The Society of the Cincinnati, The Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection
Lafayette is sitting on the deck of the Brandywine with dark clouds above breaking so a shaft of light falls on him. In the clouds to the right are figures of the American Revolution, headed by George Washington.
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The Marquis de La Fayette Major General in the Armies of the United States of America
Charles Willson Peale, artist and engraver
Philadelphia, 1787
The Society of the Cincinnati, The Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection
During the American Revolution, Lafayette became one of General Washington's most trusted officers, an international hero and a champion of liberty. This mezzotint, based on Charles Willson Peale's life portrait of Lafayette in 1780, captures the direct gaze of the idealistic young major general in his Continental Army uniform.
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General Lafayette at the Anniversary of the Battle of York Town, Oct. 19, 1824
William Russell Birch, after Ary Scheffer
ca. 1824-1834
The Society of the Cincinnati, Gift of the Friends of the Boush-Tazewell House, Inc., 1991
Exactly forty-three years after the British surrendered at Yorktown, Lafayette returned to the battlefield while on his tour of the United States in 1824 and 1825. A crowd of more than ten thousand greeted the French hero. Recalling their triumph decades earlier, Lafayette dined on the battlefield with fellow war veterans under George Washington's headquarters tent. This portrait of the French general—painted in enamel rather than watercolor, to be more durable and less expensive than typical portrait miniatures—was a souvenir of the Yorktown celebration.
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Conclusion de la Campagne de 1781 en Virginie. Le Marquis de La Fayette
Noël Le Mire, engraver, after Jean-Baptise Le Paon
Paris, ca. 1789
The Society of the Cincinnati, Gift of Trafford Partridge Klotz, 1964
To celebrate the victory over the British at Yorktown and Lafayette's service in America, Noël Le Mire published an engraving of Lafayette. It was reissued later in the 1780s when Lafayette became commander of the Paris National Guard during the early years of the French Revolution. Pictured next to Lafayette is James Armistead Lafayette.
Click for a larger view.Elizabeth Crosby to Emily [Abbot], August 27, 1824, page 1.
Click for a larger view.Elizabeth Crosby to Emily [Abbot], August 27, 1824, page 2.
Click for a larger view.Elizabeth Crosby to Emily [Abbot], August 27, 1824, page 3.
Click for a larger view.Lawrence Lewis to Captain Robert Lewis, December 14, 1824, page 1.
Click for a larger view.Lawrence Lewis to Captain Robert Lewis, December 14, 1824, page 2.
Click for a larger view.Lawrence Lewis to Captain Robert Lewis, December 14, 1824, page 3.
Click for a larger view.Marinus Willett to My Dear General [Lafayette], ca. 1826