Delegates from all thirteen colonies met in 1774 in Philadelphia to discuss responses to increased British oppression. This convention, the First Continental Congress, formally declared that colonists should have the same rights as Englishmen; they also agreed to form the Continental Association, which called for the suspension of trade with Great Britain. The mural depicts an oration by Patrick Henry in Carpenters' Hall.
Left: A colonist is shown making a tax payment. Taxation without representation was a major complaint against the royal government.
Right: A soldier blocks the path of a woman and child, symbolizing the armed occupation that incensed many colonists.
About the Cox Corridors Murals
The first floor of the U.S. Capitol's House wing is elaborately decorated with wall and ceiling murals by artist Allyn Cox. The central east-west corridor is referred to as the Great Experiment Hall because it chronicles in 16 murals the legislative milestones of three centuries, from the signing of the Mayflower Compact in 1629 to the enactment of women's suffrage in 1920.