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The Rising Sun Chair
George Washington sat in the so-called Rising Sun Chair in 1787, while presiding over the creation of the United States Constitution, in what is now known as Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
At the close of this Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin remarked, “I have often looked at that sun behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”
According to Karie Diethorn, Chief Curator, Independence National Historical Park: The sun is topped by a Liberty Cap and Liberty Pole referring to the quest for freedom from tyranny. The crest rail and splat feature carved cornucopias and grain-bearing sheaves referring to Pennsylvania’s agricultural bounty. The mahogany was harvested in the Caribbean by enslaved people whose labor was the foundation of the Western world’s economy.
“This chair embodies within it both the lofty idealism and the harsh reality of America’s complex past.”
—Karie Diethorn, Chief Curator, Independence National Historical Park
A replica of the chair George Washington sat in when he presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, on loan from the Independence National Historical Park, is on view at the exhibition. The chair will be on view at PAFA from the exhibition’s opening on March 23 through June, and will then move to AAMP, where it will be on view from July through closing on October 8. There will be a special program to mark its arrival at AAMP.
The original chair was made by Philadelphia cabinetmaker John Folwell for the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1778-1779 and still sits in the Assembly Room of Independence Hall.
The name “Rising Sun Chair” is a 20th century moniker, based on Benjamin Franklin’s belief that the carved half sun was ascending rather than declining.
Find out how the words of Benjamin Franklin and poetry of James Weldon Johnson together inspired the exhibition.
Image credit: Collection of Independence National Historical Park Collection, Philadelphia, PA
A replica of the chair George Washington sat in when he presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, on loan from the Independence National Historical Park, is on view at the exhibition. The chair will be on view at PAFA from the exhibition’s opening on March 23 through June, and will then move to AAMP, where it will be on view from July through closing on October 8. There will be a special program to mark its arrival at AAMP.
The original chair was made by Philadelphia cabinetmaker John Folwell for the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1778-1779 and still sits in the Assembly Room of Independence Hall.
The name “Rising Sun Chair” is a 20th century moniker, based on Benjamin Franklin’s belief that the carved half sun was ascending rather than declining.
Find out how the words of Benjamin Franklin and poetry of James Weldon Johnson together inspired the exhibition.
Image credit: Collection of Independence National Historical Park Collection, Philadelphia, PA
