British Museum Recasts America's Founding Through Indigenous Eyes

The British Museum in London presents "Declaring independence: USA 250," a small exhibition that reframes the American Revolution and Declaration of Independence from an Indigenous perspective. Curated by Rose Taylor, the show features three diplomatic gifts: a silver Washington Peace Medal engraved by Paul Revere in 1777 and gifted to the Wabanaki Confederacy, a pipe tomahawk given to Mohawk leader Joseph Brant by the Duke of Northumberland, and a Lenape wampum belt recording a 1712 peace treaty with the Haudenosaunee. A fourth artifact, the Sussex Declaration—a handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence discovered in the West Sussex Record Office—will join the display midway. The exhibition highlights that Indigenous Nations were divided in allegiance: some sided with revolutionaries, but most backed the British, and colonial land disputes were a key conflict driver. The Mohawk, who fought with the British, lost their lands to the U.S. post-war, with many fleeing to Canada. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy's governance structure may have influenced the U.S. Constitution, recognized by the Senate in 1988. Concurrently, the German Historical Museum in Berlin displays a 1770s German-language Declaration of Independence, and the National Archives Museum in Paris explores Lafayette's role in the Revolutionary War. The British Museum show runs through November 29, 2025.