"America and History" - The first panel contains the only allegorical figures in the frieze. Columbia (personification of the United States of America), wearing a liberty cap, stands in the center with her spear and shield. To her right sits an Indian maiden with a bow and arrows, representing the untamed American continent. Also at America's feet is a female figure representing History, who holds a stone tablet to record events as they occur. An American eagle perches on a fasces (a bundle of rods symbolizing the authority of government). The man in the background to their right is in the same pose as the prospector at the end of "Discovery of Gold in California," since Brumidi planned to have this scene connect with his last one.