This next section of the exhibit runs along the gallery’s far left wall that runs parallel to the gunboat. It begins with another tall introductory panel. It is titled “Choosing Sides” that asks: “Liberty for whom?” Tall graphic text panel panels are mounted vertically along the wall in a straight row, with angled panels at table height in front.  

The content explores how different groups and individuals—including Indigenous nations, Loyalists and Rebels, African Americans, women, farmers—navigated the Revolution’s challenges. Large newspaper graphics highlight the Loyalists vs. Rebels debate. A cannon from the USS Liberty is displayed vertically and is nearly seven feet tall. A large image of a wheat field is located above a blanket chest, a Palatine cradle, and a reproduction flour barrel are displayed. Interactive elements include two spinner panel towers: one features biographies; another discusses spying. Each spinner consists of a movable triangular component that displays a different text panel on each side. Visitors can rotate through these panels.    

The section concludes with West Point, featuring a large map of fortifications, the Hudson River chain, facsimiles of the André Papers found on British Major John André upon his capture, and the Van Wart Fidelity Medallion. Together, these panels, objects, and images trace the complexity of choices faced by diverse people during the American Revolution.

As you move down the corridor outside Exhibition Hall, next to the Cohoes Mastodon skeleton, you will encounter a wooden wagon displayed on a raised platform. This Suffrage Wagon served as a mobile platform for women advocating for voting rights. The wagon is about eight feet long and a little over four feet high. Constructed of wood and supported by four large, spoked wheels with iron rims, it bears the words “Spirit of 1776” painted in white lettering. Inside the wagon, there are two plank bench seats. Behind the wagon is a quote on the wall by Thomas Jefferson from the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” 

To the left of the wagon and exhibition entrance is a large wall graphic illustration showing a crowd pulling down a statue of King George. Tearing down the statue symbolically ended his rule over New York and the other colonies. 

Above this area, the entrance header has three recessed soffits painted deep blue, cream, and crimson—a color palette continued throughout the exhibit. The lowest soffit displays the title “Revolutionary New York.” Revolutionary appears in an aged script-style font, while New York is featured in a modern, bold sans-serif typeface, establishing the gallery’s design aesthetic that blends historic character with clean, contemporary lines.  

Just inside the entryway, on the left, introductory text presents Revolutionary New York as an exploration of how New Yorkers—from the Revolution through successive social movements to today—have carried forward and interpreted the nation’s founding ideals of liberty, equality, justice, and democracy. The first of a series of dialogic questions is introduced here: “What is liberty?” To the right of this, a large wall graphic presents close-up portraits of influential figures from New York’s revolutionary history—Alexander Hamilton, Red Jacket, Henry Johnson, Bella Abzug, and Shirley Chisholm. They gaze in different directions, engaging visitors and creating a feeling of energy at the entrance.  

The overall gallery configuration guides visitors along a broad U-shaped path, subtly encouraging a leftward start that loops back along the far back wall of the space. 

As you enter this section, you will encounter the next tall introductory panel titled “Revolutionary Ideas Over Time.” Below the title, a guiding question asks: “How do the ideas of the American Revolution impact your liberty today? This section explores how the enduring Revolutionary ideals and the press that amplified them have driven ongoing movements for equality and justice.

Moving forward, the left wall holds a table-height glass display case titled “Documenting New York.” It presents original materials from the New York State Archives and Library. Because these documents are sensitive to light, the documents on display will be changed periodically. You continue through this area on a U-shaped path.

Distributed throughout the gallery are four rotating panel spinners that invite visitors to explore themes such as “Language and Revolutionary Ideals vs. Reality,” “The Power of the Press,” “Revolutionary Legacies,” and “What’s in a Name.

In the back left corner, set at an angle, a full-size‑ replica of an 18-century printing press is displayed. Extending across the back wall and the adjoining right‑hand wall is a series of four large graphic collages illustrating nearly 250 years of printed communication—broadsides, banners, public notices, and protest graphics. The subjects range widely, including LGBTQ+ rights materials, the ACT UP “Silence = Death” AIDS campaign, anti-abolition‑ broadsides, a 1775 proclamation against rebellion, and women’s suffrage.

Each collage features a red horizontal band across its center containing a quotation. Together, the words of the United States Constitution, Amendment 1 (1791), Frederick Douglass (1860), Robert F. Kennedy (1962), James Baldwin (1955)—underscore themes of free speech, dissent, and civic duty.

The section concludes with a small, angled kiosk with a touchscreen. Visitors can select audio excerpts from three speeches: Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1962 remarks on the Emancipation Proclamation, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address, and Shirley Chisholm’s 1969 speech advocating for women’s equality. As each excerpt plays, a transcription appears on the screen.

As you move to your right, you encounter another tall introductory panel titled “Founding the Nation,” which asks, “Was liberty a reality for everyone?” This section examines how New Yorkers helped shape the early United States while confronting the contradictions between the nation’s ideals and its realities.

To the right of the introductory panel hangs a large graphic panel of The Congress Voting Independence, showing a meeting room where members of the Continental Congress sit at long tables while several men stand at the center holding documents. The gallery follows an S-shaped path created by tall walls that wind through the space. Along this route is another table-height case titled “Documenting New York,” containing original documents from the New York State Archives and the New York State Library. Large wall panels feature portraits of key figures such as Alexander Hamilton and Gayëtwahgeh (John Abeel, known as Cornplanter), with a replica pipe tomahawk displayed in a case beside Cornplanter’s panel. There are also table-height slant panels that contain interpretive text.

As you continue, you encounter objects, documents, and images tied to early state and federal history, including reproductions of the Treaty of Canandaigua, the New York and Federal constitutions, and the New York Bill of Rights. Notable artifacts include a gavel reportedly used by Walter Livingston, side chairs said to have been used in Federal Hall during George Washington’s inauguration, and Washington’s watch chain and seals. Materials related to treaty making appear throughout, including a roll of muslin treaty cloth gifted to the New York State Museum by the Seneca Nation. Nearby, Indigenous veterans are highlighted through a large contemporary image honoring continued military service, paired with a 1783 quote from Mohegan Chiefs reflecting shared sacrifice. There is a dedicated display area to honor these veterans. A War Mothers blanket from the Delaware Tribe of Indians is the first iteration of this display that will rotate over the course of the exhibit. A separate treaty-related quote from the US Constitution highlights federal authority over relations with Indigenous nations.

Approaching the end of this section, there is content on illegal state treaties and Indigenous displacement. Large prints of artwork appear nearby, including Honoring the Harvest by Dawn Dark Mountain (Oneida Wisconsin), part of a series commemorating the Treaty of Canandaigua, and The Great Canandaigua Treaty—1794 by Robert Griffing, depicting treaty negotiations held under an oak tree. The gallery path leads to an open area which becomes the next exhibit section.

Following the video, visitors enter the final section of the exhibition, titled “We the People. A tall introductory panel poses the question, “How do people fight for their liberty?” This section explores six major movements for social change: Women’s Rights, Abolition and Civil Rights, Labor Rights, Immigration Rights, Environmental Activism, and LGBTQ+ Rights. Each thematic area is anchored by a prominent artifact and supported by additional objects and images, with key moments from each movement placed within a shared legislative timeline.

The timeline stretches nearly 80 feet long across the gallery. A thick red line winds over a dark blue background with imagery, forming a sweeping visual backdrop for the six themes. Beginning in 1799 with the Act for the Gradual Emancipation of Slavery, it traces more than 250 years of activism and social change. Key moments from each thematic area appear along its length, creating a layered approach that allows visitors to explore individual movements while also seeing how they intersect, influence one another, and evolve over time.

The “Women’s Rights” section features a one-third scale model of the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument, showing Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony together in bronze-colored form that’s approximately three feet tall by four feet wide and is displayed on a pedestal.

Nearby is an area called “Freedom and Contradiction: Abolition and Civil Rights”. It features a dark wooden church pulpit, roughly six feet by six feet. A small media screen shows a reenactor delivering Frederick Douglass’s famous 1852 speech, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July, written by Douglass and performed by Frederick Jones.

In the “Labor Rights” area, an industrial knitting machine serves as the central object. Measuring more than eight and a half feet tall and six and a half feet wide, the machine is cast and painted, with a four-legged table base and a rectangular top. Two rotary mechanisms extend from the structure, connecting to spools of yarn and emphasizing the machine’s industrial function.

The Immigration Rights section, titled “The American Dream,” includes a sculpted plaster head created by immigrant artist Henry DiSpirito. The sculpture features finely carved facial details and a prominent mustache, while the hair is rendered in a more stylized manner.

Within the “Environmental Activism” area, a highlighted grouping of objects featuring the Bald Eagle motif reflects the bird’s shifting significance—from a symbol of the young American republic to an emblem of conservation as the species itself faced near extinction. The grouping includes a large red coffee mill, nearly three feet tall and two feet wide, decorated with an eagle holding banners bearing the company name Enterprise Mffg. Co. Additional objects include a stoneware crock and pitcher, a wooden clock with painted details, a bronze painted eagle figurine with outstretched wings, and an engraved scrimshaw busk.

Finally, as you return toward the entryway, “LGBTQ+ Rights” is marked by a full-size Volkswagen Beetle painted in bright rainbow-colored stripes, with the word “fagbug” in bold white letters that span nearly the entire side of the car. It is paired with its original silver hood that bears graffiti in red spray paint that reads “U R Gay.”

The exhibition concludes at the end of the timeline, bringing you to the present day and inviting reflection with a final question: “What will future revolutions look like?” From there, the path leads back to the gallery entrance, completing the U-shaped route through the Exhibition Hall.

Upon entering the gallery, visitors may choose to go either left or right. However, the design encourages starting on the left, where the “Power of Place” introductory panel appears. The following descriptions follow that path.

An eight-foot-tall freestanding introductory panel stands on the left. Topped with decorative molding and set in a deep crimson circular base, this marks the beginning of a new section—this design feature is repeated throughout the exhibit. A historic map of New England before New York was founded crowns the panel, along with the title “Power of Place” and the question, “How did New York shape the fight for liberty?”

Moving ahead to your left, you’ll find a large wall-mounted monitor with a touchscreen kiosk positioned directly in front. The screen asks: “What was New York?” It displays maps and an accompanying narrative that explores how land was understood and contested before the American Revolution. To the right of the interactive map, a panel explains Indigenous kinship and diplomacy. Next to it are two pieces of featured artwork. Many Trails by Misti Moede (Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican) is an assemblage of cut and layered papers that create the official symbol of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians. The symbol features a vertical line intersected by two horizontal lines; in between these intersections are two concentric circles. Above the top intersection is an open half circle bisecting the vertical line. The second piece, Hiawatha Belt by Toni Cook (Oneida), is a framed rectangular woven belt, made of tiny cylindrical purple and white beads made out of dyed and undyed clam shell. The central form in the shape of a tree or a flame, as in a council fire, representing Onondaga Nation, the central fire of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. 

At the center of the gallery is the largest feature: a reconstruction of a Revolutionary War-era American gunboat, measuring about 16 by 30 feet. The wood is dark brown with a rough, visible grain and is cradled in a steel mount. It is surrounded by angled interpretive panels and object cases that take visitors on a circular path around the gunboat. 

Content includes: a timeline from the 1763 Treaty of Paris to the start of the Revolution in 1775, panels highlighting major campaigns during the American Revolution with accompany maps showing regions they took place, biographies of nine key figures that are hung on cabled panels, six display cases with related artifacts such as muskets, swords, powder horns, ammunition, and personal items including spoons and buckles. 

Beyond the gunboat display is a large, vertical wall graphic featuring a liberty pole and an area where visitors may participate in hands-on activities. There is a four-by-eight-foot wooden artillery sled fitted with a six-pounder cannon that visitors are invited to touch. 

The “Power of Place” section concludes with the War of 1812 on the last slant panel that is located around the gunboat.