Libertas Americana

The medal "Libertas Americana," struck in 1783, shows on the obverse (left) the personification of freedom as a goddess together with the freedman's cap (pileus libertatis), and on the reverse (right) the goddess Minerva, holding a shield over the new-born Hercules to protect him from a lion. Hercules symbolises the newly formed state, whereas the lion obviously stands for England. The freedman's cap alludes to the familiar Brutus denarius.

Augustin Dupré (1748–1833), Libertas Americana, gilded bronze medal, 1783, design: Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790); source: Princeton University Library.