Pennsylvania

John Dickinson

John Dickinson, c. 1782—83
Lawyer, politician, writer, militia officer, signer of the Declaration of Independence; 1732—1808.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin, 1785
Philadelphia printer, writer, scientist, inventor, signer of the Declaration of Independence, diplomat to France; 1706—90.

Robert Morris

Robert Morris, c. 1782
Signer of the Declaration of Independence, “Financier of the Revolution”; 1734—1806.

Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine, 1791
Author, revolutionary, political philosopher; 1737—1809.

Charles Willson Peale

Self-Portrait, 1795
American painter, soldier; created first American museum; 1741—1827.

Rembrandt Peale

Self-Portrait, 1828
American painter, son of Charles Willson Peale; 1778—1860.

Betsy Ross

The Birth of Old Glory, c. 1917
Philadelphia seamstress and upholsterer.

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Rush, c. 1818
Philadelphia doctor, signer of the Declaration of Independence; 1738—1820.

William Rush

Self-Portrait, 1822
American sculptor; 1756—1833.

Arthur St. Clair

Arthur St. Clair, 1782—84
Continental Army general, surrendered Fort Ticonderoga to the British; 1737—1818.

At the end of March [1783] Franklin applied to [French Foreign Secretary] Vergennes for permission to publish a complete translation of the United States constitutions in French, the only language in which they could be widely read. He was eager to correct Europe’s misapprehensions about the new nation; he knew as well that he was offering up an advertisement for American trade and immigration.... Copies went out over the summer to the entire diplomatic corps and, in extravagantly bound editions, to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The most influential of Franklin’s European publications the constitutions were universally well received.

— Stacy Schiff
A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America (2005)