At nine o clock on May 10, 1876, the Centennial Exhibition,
commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of Americas
independence, opened in Philadelphia. In the seven months that
the Centennial was open, a little under ten million people
passed through its gates. The organizers of the Centennial saw
this as an excellent opportunity to impress their ideas upon the
people of America. These ideas consisted of a vision of Americas
progress seen through the lenses of Americas intellectual,
political, and business elite. During 1876, the United States
was in a very uncertain state. President Grant was at the end of
his term marked by corruption and Reconstruction was soon about
to meet an abrupt ending. The Centennial Exhibition was a chance
for American people to see how powerful and dominant their
country still was, amidst these times of uncertainty. While this
goal to restore confidence in the American people can be seen as
a theme throughout the whole Centennial, my research has been
limited to the Native Ameri