On July 3, we hosted From The Vault — We Are One: Mapping America’s Road from Revolution to Independence.

We bought back the best elements of one of our most popular exhibitions, We Are One: Mapping America’s Road from Revolution to Independence, to celebrate this Independence Day.

We Are One maps the American road to independence and explores the tumultuous events that led thirteen colonies to join to forge a new nation. Using geographic and cartographic perspectives, this From the Vault traces the American story from the strife of the French and Indian War to the creation of a new national government and the founding of Washington, D.C. as its home.

Georg Balthasar Probst, London [1770–1789]

Twenty times the size of colonial Boston, a late 1700s London led the world in commercial trade, manufacturing, and finance. The River Thames flows through the city center. Ships brought commercial goods from around the world, including tobacco, rice, indigo and cotton from America. This map depicts the city as a place of wonder, as conveyed in this engraving published by a printer from Augsburg, Germany. It was translated into English and Latin for an international audience. The focal point is St. Paul’s Cathedral, designed by Christopher Wren and built in 1711. The legend identifies 70 prominent buildings and landmarks, including the Royal Exchange, where colonial merchants regularly met to conduct business.

Nicholas Scull, George Heap, and William Faden, A plan of the city and environs of Philadelphia (1777)

William Faden, geographer to King George III, published this map of Philadelphia in March 1777. This map, or one of the earlier versions created by Nicholas Scull and George Heap, may have helped British troops when they occupied the city from September 1777 to June 1778. The map includes a city plan, labels the owners of properties in the surrounding area, and notes fortifications. Instead of a decorative cartouche, the map features an elevation of the Pennsylvania State House. Now known as Independence Hall, the building was famous even then as the site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Samuel Holland, A plan of the island of St. John with the divisions of the counties, parishes, & the lots as granted by government, likewise the soundings round the coast and harbours (1775)

Following the French and Indian War, Samuel Holland conducted surveys for many of the charts of Britain’s new North American colonies published in the landmark maritime atlas The Atlantic Neptune. His first task for this project was a survey of St. John’s Island (modern-day Prince Edward Island). With explicit instructions from the Board of Trade, Holland divided the island into a grid-system of counties, parishes, and townships of uniform size. French and indigenous place names were changed to commemorate British royal figures. The shift to British names expressed the empire’s political control of the region and Holland’s loyalty to his patrons.

Charles Blaskowitz, A plan of New York Island, and part of Long Island, with the circumjacent country, as far as Dobbs’s Ferry to the north, and White Plains to the east, including the rivers, islands, roads, &ca : also shewing the landing, routes, battles, lines and encampments of the British forces under the command of His Excellency Sir William Howe Knight of the most honorable Order of the Bath, Commander in Chief &ca. &ca. &ca (1777)

After evacuating Boston, the British focused their campaign on New York City. They took the city during the summer and fall of 1776. Charles Blaskowitz, one of the most accomplished topographical engineers in the British military, made this manuscript map for General Sir William Erskine, a participant in one of the battles portrayed. Blaskowitz documented the British military encampments and activities in the vicinity of New York City on this “Campaign Headquarters Map.” He combined specifics of key events overlaid on topography that was systematically surveyed, resulting in a map that is both comprehensive as well as aesthetically pleasing.

Joseph F.W. Des Barres, A sketch of the operations before Charlestown the capital of South Carolina (1780)

In 1780, the British tried to capture Charleston, South Carolina again. This chart depicts the six-week siege that forced American troops to surrender on May 12, 1780. This was the largest surrender of American troops during the war. Along with Samuel Holland, Joseph F.W. Des Barres conducted extensive coastal surveys of the British colonies beginning in 1764. Although their charts were prepared primarily for navigational purposes, this one features the fortifications constructed by British and American troops (colored yellow) and the British and American fleets. 

This version of the chart appeared in Des Barres’ The Atlantic Neptune, the most comprehensive maritime atlas of the period.

Michel Capitaine du Chesnoy, Carte de l’affaire de Montmouth, ou le Général Washington commandon l’armée Americaine, et le Général Clinton l’armée Angloise le 28 Juin 1778 (1778)

Michel Capitaine du Chesnoy, the Marquis de Lafayette’s map maker, drew this map following the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse in northeastern New Jersey. After confusion surrounding the Continental Army’s orders, the soldiers prevented the British troops from advancing. The battle occurred on a hot June day and hundreds of soldiers died of heatstroke. Women, who came to be referred to collectively as “Molly Pitcher,” supported the American troops by bringing water to cool the men and their guns. Although the battle ended inconclusively, it was a turning point for the professionalization of the American army as volunteer French and German military officers provided training.

Andrew Ellicott, Plan of the city of Washington in the territory of Columbia, ceded by the states of Virginia and Maryland to the United States of America, and by them established as the seat of their government, after the year MDCC (1792)

This 1792 map was among the first printed plans of Washington, D.C., the new seat of the federal government. Its location on the Potomac River was determined as a result of the Compromise of 1790. Thomas Jefferson and his supporters agreed that the nation would take on state debts incurred during the Revolutionary War in exchange for the mid-Atlantic capital site selected by George Washington. Though Maryland surveyor Andrew Ellicott created this map, he based it on designs by French engineer Pierre L’Enfant. The map is illustrated in Edward Savage’s portrait of the Washington family.

Henry D. Pursell, A map of the United States of N. America (1784)

This map, produced soon after the Treaty of Paris, depicts the United States with its new territories west of the Appalachian Mountains. Although Britain had cordoned off this land for Native Americans with the 1763 Proclamation Line, the United States planned to integrate this territory into the new nation. To create an “orderly and diplomatic process” with the indigenous people of the region, the Continental Congress imposed Thomas Jefferson’s Land Ordinance of 1784. This legislation regulated the governance of the territory, and divided the region into ten states, each with specified boundaries. Jefferson proposed ten names for the states, which are included on this map and outlined in light red.