ABSTRACT
The biographical sketches and anecdotes of heroes of the Revolution reached more Americans by way of schoolbooks than by any other means. The decorative illustrations, visual images of heroes in schoolbooks most often took the form of the emblem. The emblem was composed of a graphic image, a narrative, or commentary on the ethical meaning of the image. The rhetorical theories about style also influenced the selection of accounts of heroes. The verse beneath the relief cut of Sisyphus offers a point by point correspondence between the illustration and the moral idea. The emblem convention determined the form of American schoolbook illustration from the start. Schoolbook anecdotes of heroes dramatized virtues and cultural values that educators believed American children had to embrace if the republic were to survive. Mason Locke Weems’ use of portraits of Washington in his biography was similar to the use of portraits by editors of magazines and biographical dictionaries.
