"Agriculture & Manufactures Are The Foundation of Our Independence"

HHS Permanent Collection, 1976.10694.01, Gift of the Estate of Ida Hoornbeck. Detail of coverlet reading AGRICULTURE & MANUFACTURES ARE THE FOUNDATION OF OUR INDEPENDENCE. JULY 4TH, 1837.

A second grouping of coverlets may have been woven by several different weavers. At one time it was believed that they came out of the workshop of James Alexander of Orange County, N.Y., since striking similarities exist between the two groups. However, this attribution has now been dismissed. The corner legend reading: “Agriculture & Manufactures Are The Foundation of Our Independence” is usually combined with a date (known examples ranging from the early 1820s to the late 1840s) and sometimes an addition to the inscription “July 4” or “General Lafayette” (these additions most likely commemorating Lafayette’s return visit to America in 1824-25). However, it is not clear where the agriculture quote itself came from. Many examples of the Agriculture group of coverlets exist whose original owners lived in Dutchess and Ulster counties. Historic Huguenot Street owns four coverlets from the Agriculture group dated between 1824 and 1838 — all with Ulster County family provenance.