Why does democracy matter? What does it look like in action? Art from The New York Historical collections explores the original promise of and continuing progress toward American Revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality.
Why does democracy matter? What does it look like in action? Art from The New York Historical collections explores the original promise of and continuing progress toward American Revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality.
Why does democracy matter? What opportunities does it offer? What does it look like in action? Whom does it represent? These and other questions structure Democracy Matters, a dynamic visual conversation presented at The New York Historical on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Drawing primarily from the permanent collections of The New York Historical, the exhibition explores how the concept of democracy has stretched, contracted, and shifted through key moments in the history of the nation; how competing understandings of it have come into conflict; and how those conflicts have reshaped its boundaries. Highlights range from a sculpture of Thomas Jefferson commissioned by Uriah P. Levy, the first Jewish commodore in the US Navy, to commemorate Jefferson’s advocacy for religious freedom; to a 2025 painting by Cree artist Kent Monkman that reimagines a US landscape by Hudson River School artist Albert Bierstadt to honor Native spiritual traditions retained despite assimilationist programs of the 19th and 20th centuries. Inaugurating the new Tang Wing for American Democracy of The New York Historical as a space for national conversation, the exhibition aims to at once present and prompt multi-vocal discourse about the meaning of democracy and why it matters today.
The exhibition will explore democratic rights, including voting, worshiping, speaking, and protesting; the triumphs and challenges of upholding democracy throughout US history; citizenship and the question of what it means to be American; and land rights and ownership. Curated by Wendy Nālani E. Ikemoto, vice president & chief curator
Join us at The New York Historical—both in person and online—for a suite of exhibitions, programs, and a digital project called On Our 250th that has a nationwide coalition of history museums inviting Americans to share their hopes for our democracy.
Exhibitions at The New York Historical are made possible by Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, the Saunders Trust for American History, the Evelyn & Seymour Neuman Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. WNET is the media sponsor.
Media sponsor:
![John Dickinson, A Declaration [. . .] Setting Forth the Causes and Necessity [of] Taking up Arms (Philadelphia: Bradford, 1775). Photograph by Vincent Dilio. Courtesy of David M. Rubenstein.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd17xep5pb0e8k3.cloudfront.net%2FaJOU2KTt2nPbZ7gB_15-04092025_a_declaration_by_representatives_of_united_colonies_philadelphia_1775_C_001b.jpg%3Fauto%3Dformat%252Ccompress%26rect%3D291%252C1814%252C3548%252C1602%26w%3D2000%26h%3D903%26q%3D80&w=1200&q=75)
![John Dickinson, A Declaration [. . .] Setting Forth the Causes and Necessity [of] Taking up Arms (Philadelphia: Bradford, 1775). Photograph by Vincent Dilio. Courtesy of David M. Rubenstein.](https://d17xep5pb0e8k3.cloudfront.net/aJOU2KTt2nPbZ7gB_15-04092025_a_declaration_by_representatives_of_united_colonies_philadelphia_1775_C_001b.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&rect=291%2C1814%2C3548%2C1602&w=2000&h=903&q=80)
