A rare, original print of the US Constitution (one of only eleven known in the world) went on view at Crystal Bridges in We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy. In this exhibition, the document was displayed in conversation with works of art by influential historical and contemporary artists that provided diverse American perspectives on the nation’s founding principles.

Original prints of the Declaration of Independence, the proposed Bill of Rights, and the Articles of Confederation could be viewed along with several new acquisitions. Portraits of Native American leaders, including John Mathies’s depiction of Seneca leader Red Jacket, hung beside familiar paintings of revolutionary leaders such as Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull. Constitutional themes of equality, freedom, and justice were explored in twentieth-century works by Jacob Lawrence and Gordon Parks, among others, while living artists such as Roger Shimomura, Luis C. Garza, and Shelley Niro addressed past and present struggles for equality.