Curriculum Materials: Art in America
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Image 6 Thomas Sully Questions: |
Iroquios Confederacy
Most Euro-American art and oratory of the 19th century
associated the new U.S. government with the ancient Roman
republic. Despite the stature and prestige attained by this
association, the two governments had very little in common.
In reality, the writers of the Constitution derived a more
significant number of their ideas from the Iroquois
Confederacy of Nations, a democratic form of government
based on elected representatives.
Sully's portrait of Washington,
however, includes no reference to the Iroquois Confederacy's
contribution, which the U.S. Congress did not formally
acknowledge until 1987.
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