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Secondary sourcePhotographc. 1880

Photograph of the Andrew Jackson Equestrian Statue, Lafayette Park

Clark Mills · c. 1880

An 1880s photograph of Clark Mills's bronze statue of Andrew Jackson in Washington, showing how he was publicly memorialized.

Shows the statue erected in Jackson's honor, reflecting his public memory as president and general after his death.

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Sepia photograph of a bronze equestrian statue of a man on a rearing horse, the man raising his hat in one hand, with a sword at his side. Bare trees and a stone base are visible at the bottom.
General Andrew Jackson: equestrian statue, Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C. Photograph, ca. 1880, of the 1853 bronze statue by Clark Mills.

About this source

What it is

This is a photograph, taken around 1880, of the bronze equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson by sculptor Clark Mills, which was completed in 1853 and stands in Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C. The photograph itself is held by the Wellcome Collection in London.

Why it matters

This photograph does not show Jackson in life — it documents a monument built to honor him decades after he served as president. It reveals how Americans in the nineteenth century chose to remember Jackson: as a triumphant military and political leader, shown raising his hat atop a rearing horse. Photographs like this one helped spread images of national monuments before most people could travel to see them in person.

Look closer

  • What does the pose of Jackson, raising his hat, suggest about how he is being presented?
  • Why might this statue have been photographed and distributed as an image?
  • What does a monument like this leave out about the real, complicated history of its subject?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Andrew Jackson on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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