EXHIBIT: DECLARING INDEPENDENCE USA 250

250 years ago, on 4 July 1776, the Thirteen British Colonies in North America adopted the Declaration of Independence, breaking away from the British Crown and founding the United States of America.

Introduced through the story of the Washington Peace Medal, the display highlights material traditions of allegiance and treaty-making that shaped this pivotal moment in history. Made in Boston in 1777, the medal was presented by the Revolutionaries to members of the Wabanaki Confederacy as part of a treaty of friendship and alliance against the British. Soon after, British forces confiscated the medal under threat of military force and presented it to King George III as a war trophy. Passing through the hands of all three groups, the medal reveals the competing diplomatic and political interests at the heart of the conflict.

Indigenous Peoples played a vital role throughout the War of Independence, forming alliances with both sides while navigating the human consequences of shifting political powers. Through treaties, diplomatic gifts and acts of resistance, the exhibition uncovers the global and deeply interconnected histories behind the founding of the United States.

This powerful display features a rare handwritten manuscript copy of the Declaration of Independence and ceremonial gifts exchanged between Indigenous Nations, the British and the Revolutionaries. A wampum belt and pipe tomahawk show how objects were used to negotiate diplomacy, loyalty, and land rights.

For more information, see:
Declaring independence USA 250 (https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/declaring-independence-usa-250)

While the Bayeux Tapestry was allocated the spacious and prestigious Sainsbury gallery, Declaring independence is crammed into a tiny nook off the Museum's main entrance, a space that bears the non-prestigious name of, um, Room 3.

The Bayeux Tapestry exhibit includes a gift shop full of exclusive merch, including a lavishly-illustrated and eye-wateringly expensive hardback souvenir guidebook. The exhibit is announced by huge colorful banners throughout the British Museum, including on the famous forecourt.

By contrast, Declaring independence: USA 250 offers a free leaflet and no exclusive merch, and is only advertised by these three teeny, drab, and wrinkly posters.

Here are my best efforts to photograph the star attraction, a very small silver medal, as it slowly revolved on a stick in its glass case:

This medal, I learned, was presented to the Wabanaki Confederacy by the American Revolutionaries, which is why the face on the front is George Washington's, not King George III. It's the only one of the three gifts that was actually presented during the War for Independence.

This wasn't some condescending pat on the head from General Washington to the Wabanaki Confederacy. You don't give custom-made bling to people who don't matter, and especially not during a massive war.

The British Museum is telling us that Native peoples were NOT helpless bystanders or victims before, during, or after the War for American Independence. Indigenous military support was valued by both sides—and for good reason.

Let me shout this: Both the British-American Revolutionaries and the British Government in London took Native nations seriously. Indians were major power players, and everyone knew it, including Native people themselves.

In the small print, we learn that the medal was crafted by colonial America's most wealthy and famous silversmith, Paul Revere of Boston, suggesting that it was sufficiently important that the contract was given to a distinguished craftsman. It was then formally presented as a gift to the Wabanaki Confederacy, during negotiations for Wabanaki military support against Britain. It was not mailed to them, or informally handed out. This was a significant gift, and in more ways than one: The Wabanaki Confederacy turned out not to be its only recipient.

As the war raged, things changed. The Revolutionary Army had a setback in Maine. Sure, the Wabanaki remained consistent in their policies: They were concerned for their own interests in the outcome of the War. But now that circumstances had altered, they exercised their independence. They signed a treaty with the British, who demanded this silver medal as part of the deal.

So the medal was now sent across the Atlantic to London, where it was presented as a gift to King George III. I can only guess that the King was amused, outraged, or both, by a medal bearing the crude image of Upstart George, not his own picture.

The medal was gifted again. Five years after the King's death, his son and successor, King George IV, donated the medal to the British Museum. It's been there ever since, I assume, stashed away in the Museum stores, and seldom or never on display—until now.

This medal is a symbol of diplomacy between Native and non-Native governments, of shifting loyalties in a dynamic situation (think of any war you know well, and you will likely see the same thing happening, Ukraine, cough),

Native Nations weren't being nice or obliging or easily bribed when they threw their support behind one side or the other. They were, we should not be surprised to realize, doing whatever it took to protect their peoples, their lands, and their own independence from attack. Wouldn't you do the same if that were you?

To read the complete article, see:
Bayeux, Bayeux, Missed American Ties (https://annettelaing.substack.com/p/bayeux-bayeux-missed-american-ties)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web