American Symbol with Roman Roots: The Liberty Cap

The liberty cap was originally part of the Roman manumission ceremony, by which slaves were granted their freedom, and this symbol enjoyed a healthy popularity in europe from ancient times well into the early modern era.

It was an ancient Roman symbol which was co-opted by many revolutionary groups over history, starting with Brutus after the Assassination of Julius Caesar, who emblazoned the Liberty Cap on a coin commemorating the event.

It was popularised in American symbolism by Paul Revere, who included it prominently on the Boston Commons Obelisk in 1766, and on his silver Sons of Liberty Bowl, which was later satirised on a porcelain bowl by William Hogarth, which was promptly mass-produced and shared in the form of a print, which brought the symbol into the American Psyche in the leadup to the revolutionary war. So prolific was this symbol, that it found its way into the header for the Boston Gazette from 1770 onwards.

After the introduction of the Liberty Cap into the American symbological lexicon, it could be seen everywhere, from regimental flags to being used as a geographical marker for America on maps produced in France, where the symbol also rapidly gained popularity in the leadup to the french revolution.

The popularity of the Liberty cap was furious but short-lived. By the 1820s the symbol was already in decline, and by the mid 19th century, it had completely passed from the American Consciousness.

Here, it is preserved on an antique saber for an American Cavalryman from around the war of 1812.

Source:

Korshak, Yvonne. “The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in America and France.” Smithsonian Studies in American Art, vol. 1, no. 2, 1987, pp. 53–69. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3108944.