This canvas print is based on a photograph from the National Archives' holdings of a painting depicting Concord, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775. More than a year before Americans declared their independence, the Revolutionary War erupted with the “shot heard round the world” at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Convinced that Massachusetts was already in outright rebellion and that the other colonies would soon follow, royal officials decided to act. The painting was created around 1825 by Timothy Martin Minot.

In 1933, the chief architect of the National Archives, J. Russell Pope, recommended approval of a two-year contract to hire Barry Faulkner, a noted American muralist, to paint a mural for the Exhibit Hall in the planned Rotunda of the National Archives Building. The result was two large oil-on-canvas murals, each about 14 feet by 37 1/2 feet. One mural honors the signers of the Declaration and the other those who signed the Constitution.