What did your inauguration invitation look like? For the lucky people who received invitations
to one of the inaugural balls, it’s exciting just being able to attend. But what would you think if you got this one,
to Ulysses S. Grant’s 1869 inauguration reception?
Many of the symbols are common Revolution-era, American emblems. The figure of a woman to the right wears a
crown of stars and holds a staff, topped with a Phrygian cap . This cap, a symbol of liberty, along with her
classical garments denote this woman as Columbia. She would also gradually become a
personification of America. Her crown of stars is an interesting
addition; usually Columbia wears the Phrygian cap or a laurel wreath. Where did the crown of stars come from? If you could take the statue off of the top
of the Capitol dome, Freedom in War and Peace,
for a closer look you might find the answer.
The work was installed in 1863 by Thomas Crawford. Many casual observers have misidentified this
statue as that of a Native American, but it’s actually a female personification of
Freedom. In the original designs, she
wore a Phrygian cap, but Jefferson Davis, soon to become President of the
Confederacy, objected to the symbol of emancipation and ordered a change. The cap became a plumed military helmet
crested with stars. This work, having
recently been placed on top of the Capitol, is a possible reference for
Columbia’s starred headdress in the invitation.[1]
Opposite Columbia is the personification of Victory. Depicted with wings and holding a palm
branch, the Greek goddess Nike sprinkles flowers on the abundant harvest of wheat and pumpkins. A plow is
depicted amid the corn stalks which curl around and in front of a fallen
cannon. A tall ship sails beneath her
outstretched arm. Below Columbia, who
came to be known as Lady Liberty, a cornucopia is mixed with papers, books, an
artist’s palate and a gavel for a judge.
An image of the Capitol building is depicted behind her. These images remind me of the John Adams
quote “I must study Politicks [sic] and War that my sons may have liberty to
study Mathematicks [sic] and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks
[sic] and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture,
navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right
to study Painting, Poetry, Musick [sic], Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and
Porcelaine [sic] (12 May 1780). Although coming out of a different war from
Adams, anyone who saw the end of the Civil War would have looked forward to a
time of peace where their children would be able to divert themselves from the images of bayonets and dead soldiers on the battlefield
of Antietam.
Atop the text a bust of Grant is crowned with the laurel
wreath of victory and is encircled by a flower garland and oak leaves. Grant’s bust is classically draped to match the other figures and very faintly behind his head is the phrase “Let us have
peace.” Coming from when he accepted the Republican Presidential nomination,
these four words closed his speech and became the slogan for his campaign. Anyone who had just survived the Civil War
and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln must have welcomed this idea. This call for peace must have made even more of an impact since it came
from a military commander, the triumphant victor of that war between the North
and the South. All of the images tie
together to reinforce the vision of a united country: working the land,
creating export items. With “Columbia”
and “Victory” to support the country and their new leader to guide them, these
efforts would be rewarded with abundance, learning, and beauty. 
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