The Origin of the Liberty Cap.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 30, 24 July 1902, Page 2

The Origin of the Liberty Cap.

When the Phrygiar.s from the shores of the Euxine conquered the east of Asia Minor, they distinguished themselves from the primitive inhabitants by wearing their national cap as a sign of their independence, and it was stamped on their coins. The Romani adopted it, and wh^n a pla 1 c was freed, placed a small red cap, called a ' pileus,' on his head, proclaimed him a free man, and registered him as suoh. When Saturnua took the capital in 263 8.C., he hoisted a cap on a spear to show that all slaves who joined him should be free. WhenCanar was murdered, the conspirators raised a Phrygian cap on a *>pear as a symbol of liberty. In England the symbol of liberty is a blue cap with a white border ; and Britannia is represented holding such a cap at the end of a spear. The American cap of liberty has been adopted from the British, and is blue w^h a white border, or bottom, on which are thirteen stars. It was adoptad by the Philadelphia Light Horse Troop, in 1775, under whose escort Washington went to New York. It was the token of freedom, and was stamped on American coius in 1783.