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Examples of Classically Inspired Art and Architecture
in the Federal Age

The Federal Age found American intellectuals consciously working to construct a distinctively American high culture that would rival and perhaps supercede that of Europe. This culture must express the Revolutionary ideals of America as an experiment in democracy. Thus American orators, philosophers, artists, musicians and architects turned to the model of classical Greek and Rome for artistic inspiration as well as political. The result was a combination of the austere Puritan ethic with the aesthetic lines of the classical age.

White House Green Room