Morven Museum & Garden in Princeton, New Jersey, is presenting "Five Independent Souls: The Signers from New Jersey," an exhibition opening May 3, 2026, through January 17, 2027. The show examines the lives of five lesser-known signers of the Declaration of Independence—Abraham Clark, John Hart, Francis Hopkinson, Richard Stockton, and John Witherspoon—through over 100 historic artifacts including manuscripts, paintings, furniture, and personal objects. It confronts the paradox that these men fought for liberty while enslaving people, and also addresses the impact of American independence on New Jersey's indigenous population. Highlights include the painting "Congress Voting Independence" (1796-1817), the first known American depiction of the vote for Independence.
The exhibition matters because it reframes a foundational American narrative by centering the contradictions of the nation's founding, forcing visitors to reckon with the denial of freedom to enslaved people and indigenous communities by those who claimed to champion liberty. By placing the signers' personal histories alongside the stories of those they subjugated, the show offers a more complex, honest understanding of American history. Additionally, the venue itself—Morven, built for signer Richard Stockton and briefly occupied by the British—becomes part of the story, deepening the historical resonance.