Banknote vignette with female figures representing Liberty and Justice 1819 - 1837

This is Asher Brown Durand's "Banknote vignette with female figures representing Liberty and Justice." This small engraving speaks volumes about the cultural values that the United States wished to project in its early years. We see the allegorical figures of Liberty and Justice flanking a pedestal surmounted by an eagle. The neoclassical style evokes the republics of ancient Greece and Rome. The figures are set against a backdrop of American progress: a bustling city and a steamboat. As a vignette intended for paper money, this image promises that the Nation's financial system would be guaranteed by these core values. What interests me is the complex relationship between art, politics, and economics at play here. As historians, we can research the debates of the period to discern whether those values were truly reflected in American society. Or were these just empty promises printed on a banknote? The answers are out there in the archives waiting to be found.