The United States Of America celebrates the 250th anniversary of its adoption of the Declaration Of Independence today, July 4th, 2026. In the Declaration, delegates from the thirteen (former) colonies set out their reasons for voting to overthrow British rule on July 2nd, noting twenty-seven grievances against the reigning monarch, George III of Great Britain And Ireland. At the time, the American Revolution was ongoing, and the Continental Congress meeting this time in Philadelphia was soon compelled to move to Baltimore, Maryland; the permanent Congress was not established until 1781.
On the left of the board, various symbols of the eventual United States Of America – John Trumbull’s painting ‘Declaration Of Independence’ (image at WP) and a bald eagle upon a Stars And Stripes formed by an outline of the eastern sea-board (which for an unknown reason lists New Castle (not “Newcastle”) alongside Philadelphia), the Liberty Bell, an “America 250 years” pin, the Seal, the Declaration, and a trapper or frontiersman who represents the westward expansion of European Americans – including the Scotch-Irish (Ulster Sails West) – across the continent.
The “liberty and law” emblem, with the red hand against the stars and stripes, surrounded by a garland of thistle and shamrock, is unknown.
The seated gentleman is James Hoban, a Catholic from Co Kilkenny, who studied architecture in Dublin and (after emigrating in 1878) designed the White House – a three-storey model (later reduced to two) is on the desk behind his quill – and (in the framed picture behind him) the Charleston (South Carolina) court-house.
In the centre is a quote attributed to James Buchanan, “My Ulster blood is my most priceless heritage”; for confusion over the quote see James Buchanan. Buchanan is also pictured (next to the word “Donegal”). The Great Seal was designed by Charles Thomson, originally from Maghera. He was also a signatory to the Declaration.
The crown above the red hand is probably the Tudor Crown, destroyed in 1649 (WP). A bed of shamrock supports the title banner.
The Ulster-Scots lineage of seventeen presidents (plus vice-president Andrew Calhoun) is presented along the bottom between the mottos “E pluribus unum” and “In God we trust”. (The Ulster-Scots Agency has a pdf of the Presidents.)
On the right, the poster marked “Eagle’s Wings”, under the Buchanan quote, also appears to come from the Ulster-Scots Agency. It is actually about the Eagle Wing, the ship pictured to the poster’s left (as imagined by water-colour painter Dan Parsons) that undertook the first voyage of Scots-Irish to North America in 1636. The journey was not a success: the roughly 140 dissenters returned to Ireland and some went to Scotland to avoid continued persecution (Presbyterian History.)
The ‘Blue Plaques’ of various notable figures are superimposed upon a period map: John Wallace Crawford, Francis Makemie, James McGregor, Charles Thomson, John Dunlap, Ezekiel Donnell, James Buchanan, Oliver Pollock, Thomas J ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, Robert Adrain, James Holmes. The portraits are of James Buchanan, Teddy Roosevelt (above Andrew Jackson’s ancestral cottage in Carrickfergus), Davey Crockett, and an unknown female figure (comment/get in touch if you can identify her).
The gravestone is to the Rev William Martin, a Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) minister, who led a contingent of 1,000 people in five ships in 1772 to Charlestown, South Carolina (Reformation History | History Ireland). The flag is the flag of the Covenanters (WP).
See also the Visual History page on Ulster-Scots Murals.
Lawnbrook Avenue, upper Shankill, west Belfast. For Jayden in the adjacent yard, see Leader Of The Band.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2026 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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