This set of maps depicts the geography of three of the locations where the copies of the Declaration in this exhibition were printed: Hartford, Connecticut; Baltimore, Maryland; and Salem, Massachusetts. In 1776, these cities were only connected by relatively weak political ties, rudimentary roads, and coastal waterways. No comprehensive maps, like the road atlases of the twentieth century or today’s digital maps, were available to cover the entire area of the new nation in a uniform manner.
The text of the Declaration includes lofty aspirations for what this new nation could become. It also includes clear rejections of the political conditions of the 1770s. How do the ideals of one document attempt to stitch together people who don’t even appear on the same map?