Act of Treason

Slanted Wayside Exhibit:
Signer’s Island
478 words / Total Audio Description: 2 minutes, 39 seconds

Site Information
132 words / 44 seconds

This is an audio description of an interpretive sign titled An Act of Treason. The sign consists of a graphic panel measuring 3 feet (1 meter) wide by 2 feet (0.5 meters) tall. An audio speaker with push buttons and two solar panels is to the right of the graphic panel. Immediately beyond the sign is a lake with a small island. On the left, a wooden bridge 10 feet (3 meters) wide is level with the sidewalk and leads to the island. The bridge lacks handrails. On this side of the bridge, set on the sidewalk is a stone panel with carved words, surrounded by stone paving stones. The words spall, “A memorial to the 56 signers of the Declaration of independence. A gift from the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, 1976.

Exhibit Panel Content
346 words / 1 minute, 55 seconds

The title reads An Act of Treason.

An oil painting by artist John Trumball stretches across the sign, framed by a dark red background. The painting shows members of Congress dressed in formal suits in brown, grey, and maroon tones. Some wear white wigs. Some are seated in rows, while others stand. All face the right side of the painting, where a smaller group of standing men surround a desk with papers scattered about. Beneath the painting, a portion of the handwritten document, the Declaration on Independence with signatures such as John Hancock’s, appears in white on a dark background.

White text, located at the top of the panel, reads:

The memorial in front of you honors the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Before these men became the founders we remember today, they were citizens making an important but terrifying choice. When they signed their name to the Declaration, they committed treason against their homeland, Great Britain. For many, their decision had a devastating impact on their lives.

Moving from left to right, five of the men are identified with a white leader line and white text. The captions read:

William Floyd represented New York at the signing. While he was in France negotiating the end of the Revolutionary War, the British cavalry occupied his house. They reportedly kept their horses in his hall. By the end of the war, Floyd’s home and all his belongings were destroyed or stolen.

Thomas Jefferson

Ben Franklin

Richard Stockton signed for New Jersey. The British captured and imprisoned him. An eyewitness wrote that Stockton was “forced away naked...in a most distressed condition.” Stockton's health never recovered. He died two years after his release.

John Hancock

Above the figure representing John Hancock, an image caption reads in white text:

The 1817 John Trumbull Painting, pictured here, shows the five men who drafted the Declaration presenting it to Congress. It doesn’t show the signing.

In the bottom right-hand corner of the panel, a maroon circle lined in light yellow with white text reads:

What would you risk for your beliefs?

[End of description.]