
The Key to the Bastille
The Key to the Bastille was presented as a gift to General Washington by the Marquis de Lafayette. Washington prominently displayed the key as a "token of victory by Liberty over Despotism" in the Central Passage.
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When the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association purchased the estate in the 19th century, only a small selection of objects belonging to George and Martha Washington remained.
In the spring of 1858, John Augustine Washington III agreed to sell the Mansion and 200 acres of adjoining land to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association for $200,000. In 1860, John and his family relinquished the Mansion keys to Ann Pamela Cunningham.
The Key to the Bastille was presented as a gift to General Washington by the Marquis de Lafayette. Washington prominently displayed the key as a "token of victory by Liberty over Despotism" in the Central Passage.
Four months after taking office, President Washington directed his London agents, "to send me ... a terrestrial globe of the largest dimensions and of the most accurate and approved kind now in use." After the presidency, Washington placed it in his Study at Mount Vernon.
Considered to be the most accurate likeness of George Washington, the original terra-cotta bust was made by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon at Mount Vernon in 1785 and can be seen today in the Museum.