Profiles of Robert Young Hayne and George McDuffie
Current location
Installed circa 1860
Designed by Henry Kirke Brown
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Profile of Robert Young Hayne, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Profile of George McDuffie, 2019. Historic Columbia collection
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Henry Kirke Bush-Brown Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Two marble profiles mounted on the north elevation of the State House feature George McDuffie and Robert Young Hayne, who both served as U.S. senators and as governors of South Carolina in the decades leading up to the Civil War. Their depiction as ancient Romans suggests that their political achievements – as advocates of nullification focused mainly on strengthening the rights of slaveholders and individual states over the federal government – are timeless and just. Nationally renowned artist Henry Kirke Brown sculpted the profiles in 1859-60 as part of a larger program that would have also included allegorical depictions of the state and enslaved labor in the State House’s pediments. Brown’s pediment models were destroyed in the February 1865 burning of Columbia and the sculptures were never completed.
As mentioned in Historically Complex: The Podcast
Introducing Historically Complex, a new podcast on the complicated histories of key monuments on the South Carolina State House grounds -- now available to stream and download on our website or your favorite podcast service!