The building and decoration of the Library of Congress in the late nineteenth century were emblematic of America's longing to be regarded as an enlightened nation and to take its rightful place among the great civilizations of the past. The sources for this ambition, illustrated in the paintings, sculptures, and inscriptions in the library's reading room rotunda, are a reflection of the ethical humanitarianism of Unitarianism, which advanced a modern concept of civilization that, in the decoration of the Library of Congress, became the intellectual underpinnings for the construction of a democratic, civic iconography.