Some sculptures that celebrate America's past are well known to most of us. The Washington Monument, that obelisk shooting up 500 feet above our nation's capital, is one of these. The Lincoln Memorial appears on the $5 bill and the penny. Movies ranging from "Planet of the Apes" to "Splash" have showcased New York's Statue of Liberty, and the dramatic Marine Corps War Memorial is a military icon. Above South Dakota's Black Hills rises Mount Rushmore with its massive figures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.
Hundreds of other lesser-known statues dot the American landscape, telling their stories of the past in bronze or stone to passersby. Some of these qualify as works of art, yet they lack the grandeur, the drama, or the charisma of meaning to imprint themselves on the national consciousness. In some cases, such as South Dakota's Crazy Horse Memorial, location may hinder a sculpture's popularity.
To help cut costs, Billings successfully negotiated with the Pilgrim Society to reduce the monument's height to 81 feet. When Billings died shortly after this compromise, his brother Joseph supervised sculptors and craftsmen, but funding and finding artists remained a problem. Only in 1889 was the project completed.
The imposing figure of a robed woman at the top of the monument, Faith, has her right hand raised toward heaven while her left holds the Bible. Seated in chairs on the granite buttresses below Faith are representations of Morality, Education, Law, and Liberty. Morality is the only figure without eyes, representing internal contemplation of the heart. She holds the Ten Commandments in her left hand and the scroll of Revelation in her right. Below her are statues of an Evangelist and a Prophet, figures again stressing the connections between Morality and religious faith.
Law represents civil authority, holding a legal codex and extending the right hand toward the viewer as if to say, "Come and see." The panels beneath Law display the smaller figures of Justice and Mercy, the consequences of a morality based on the principles of faith and liberty.
Education is a portrait in stone honoring the freedom to teach our children virtue. Education holds an open book her lap and, on her head, wears a laurel wreath of victory. With her are panels depicting Youth and Wisdom. Youth offers a particularly striking image: a mother gripping a book in her left hand while holding her child's hand in her right and looking down with love on him. The bearded, much older figure, Wisdom holds the Bible and points Youth toward the morality taught in that book.
Two other panels display the names of the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower.
The National Monument to the American Forefathers, sometimes called more simply the "Faith Monument," contains all the touchstones associated with the success and goodness of our republic. Here, if you will, are America's most sacred principles embedded in granite.
"In the name of the Fathers we dedicate this monument and ourselves. For ages it will stand the enduring witness to grave and resolute conduct; to privations and sacrifices; to thrift and frugality; to domestic love and unaffected piety; to rectitude in thought as well as in life; to earnest principles and true beliefs; to Christian fidelity and faith ... here and now we rededicate ourselves to a more fervent love for man as man; to a braver allegiance to truth for truth's sake, and this 'in the name of God' and Amen and Amen!"
"A memorial is at its best when it is beautifully executed and expresses a great truth. ... I think the National Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth, MA is one such memorial. I went to Plymouth several years ago for the sole purpose of seeing this monument. It brought me to tears. It powerfully represents core beliefs of our nation's founders and is also beautifully executed."
After citing Breckinridge's quote, Pototschnik then writes:
"Thanks to the brilliant work of artist Hammatt Billings, architect, sculptor, painter, and illustrator, he gave form and substance to a belief, a truth which I believe America has carelessly abandoned. For those that care, this memorial convicts us daily of our forsaking of the truth."
If we agree, then we might parrot Breckinridge and say: "Amen and Amen." We might also consider the National Monument to the Forefathers a wake-up call to begin abiding in truth, faith, morality, and liberty.