52nd Annual Delaware Show

Historical evidence supports this interpretation of the object’s dimensions and buttonhole arrangement. An advertisement for a runaway, from a 1773 edition of The Virginia Gazette, mentions “a blue Waistcoat and a Half Belt and yellow Buttons.” “Half Belt” likely refers to a fabric belt that wraps around the front half of the waist, covering only the belly. Because of its length, Winterthur’s belt could be described as a half belt. A Continental Army uniform prescription written by the Marquis de Lafayette during the winter encampment at Valley Forge clarifies that such belts were detachable and reveals that they might be secured with ties: “If we could get materials enough it would be possible to have a large belt out of the jacquet and independent of it, which could be tide upon the belly.” 3 Printed on one side of the Winterthur belt is a border pattern as well as a rewording of Galatians 5:1, from the New Testament, “Stand Fast / in / the Liberty /Wherewith Christ / has / made you Free.” Sumpter Priddy has associated this verse with early American Methodism, as John Wesley, the English founder of Methodism, used the exact wording in letters to three different followers in the 1770s. The verse, however, also has ties to the American Revolution. At least five New England preachers mentioned it in sermons about American liberties delivered between 1773 and 1778. In Boston, 1773, Simeon Howard’s sermon to the city’s Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company focused on the verse. His commentary on defending liberty is striking: “Now for men to standfast in their liberty means, in general, resisting the attempts that are made against it, in the best and most effectual manner they can.” An even more compelling example is a sermon delivered to the First Battalion of the Philadelphia Associators by Jacob Duché, rector of Christ Church in Philadelphia, on July 7, 1775, titled “The Duty of Standing Fast in Our Spiritual and Temporal Liberties.” It was dedicated to George Washington and the recently established Continental Army and frequently referenced Galatians 5:1. Advertised in Philadelphia newspapers and reprinted Fig. 4. A New Method of MACARONY MAKING, as practised at BOSTON, ink on laid paper, 1775. Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont 1957.1260. The figure on the left wears a hat decorated with the number “45,” a visible expression of his support for John Wilkes and American liberties. Two silver “45” pins survive in the collection of the British Museum in London, probably meant to be worn on a hat. — 160 —