Hagerstown Bank Ten Dollar Note
The note displayed above was originally printed in 1861 by the Hagerstown Bank in Hagerstown, Maryland, which sits directly below the Pennsylvania border and just over 50 miles west of the Delaware border.
This note works best to suggest an optimistic vision for the nation's westward expansion, employing nation-as-body imagery. Here, the central vignette on the note shows several young children completing field labor with ease, reflecting a view similar to that of John Sullivan as outlined in the historiography. Sullivan compared the nation in the antebellum period to the that of a child entering adolescence, a period in which one faces difficult, unforeseen challenges, but overcomes them naturally. The physical infancy of the laborers represents the relative youth of the United States and its uncertain future. The uncharacteristic size, strength and aptitude embodied by the infants symbolize the atypical strength of will and ability of the American people. Together, these ideas work to spread the belief that the United States will prosper despite its lack of maturity and familiarity with unconquered land.
The note, moreover, displays a portrait of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture and fertility, and a bust of a Roman soldier on the right and left panels, respectively. The inclusion of Ceres seems to seek blessing for continued growth and abundance, while the two images come together to inspire confidence in the power and longevity of the union, drawing on the Roman roots of its democratic structure. These inferences can be applied to the bank itself, as well, because of the bank's clear decision to associate itself with imagery of prosperity and the values of American democracy.
This note works best to suggest an optimistic vision for the nation's westward expansion, employing nation-as-body imagery. Here, the central vignette on the note shows several young children completing field labor with ease, reflecting a view similar to that of John Sullivan as outlined in the historiography. Sullivan compared the nation in the antebellum period to the that of a child entering adolescence, a period in which one faces difficult, unforeseen challenges, but overcomes them naturally. The physical infancy of the laborers represents the relative youth of the United States and its uncertain future. The uncharacteristic size, strength and aptitude embodied by the infants symbolize the atypical strength of will and ability of the American people. Together, these ideas work to spread the belief that the United States will prosper despite its lack of maturity and familiarity with unconquered land.
The note, moreover, displays a portrait of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture and fertility, and a bust of a Roman soldier on the right and left panels, respectively. The inclusion of Ceres seems to seek blessing for continued growth and abundance, while the two images come together to inspire confidence in the power and longevity of the union, drawing on the Roman roots of its democratic structure. These inferences can be applied to the bank itself, as well, because of the bank's clear decision to associate itself with imagery of prosperity and the values of American democracy.
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