Photo courtesy of Library of Congress
Library of Congress celebrates America’s 250 years with exhibition.
A new exhibition, “The Declaration’s Promise: A Revolutionary Idea,” opens July 3 at the Library of Congress, exploring the principles of the Declaration of Independence and their impact on American history over the last 250 years. The exhibition will be on view in the David M. Rubenstein Treasures Gallery through July 3, 2027.
“The Declaration’s Promise” begins with America’s revolutionary moment – featuring a rarely displayed treasure, Thomas Jefferson’s original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence – and then uses language from the Declaration’s famous phrases to show the founding document’s impact since 1776. Principles of the Declaration, such as self-government, natural rights, and equality among people would become resounding themes of American history.
Image courtesy of Library of Congress
Historic items will be on display starting July 3 at the Library of Congress' Treasures Gallery.
“For more than 226 years, the Library of Congress has been collecting and documenting American history and culture, and the Library’s treasures never fail to awe and inspire visitors,” said Acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen. “The Library’s Treasures Gallery offers an immersive experience to explore and contemplate a broad range of items from our history as the nation celebrates 250 years.”
Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration, asserting the unalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” serves as the exhibition’s centerpiece. The draft includes edits made by Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, demonstrating the creative, collective process of establishing a new democracy. At one point in his draft, Jefferson replaced the word “subjects” with “citizens,” the Library confirmed in 2010. Pages of the document will be on view throughout the next year.
Image courtesy of the Library of Congress
Thomas Jefferson's handwritten draft of the Declaration of Independence.
“The Declaration gathers the political thought borne of the Enlightenment and combines it with the activism of the American revolutionaries,” historian and curator Ryan Reft wrote recently, describing the exhibition in the Library of Congress Magazine. “Through the Declaration, the nation enacted a real political movement and the modern world’s first democracy, thereby serving as a collective expression, not simply a treatise by elites.”
“The Declaration’s Promise” explores the ways Americans would use the Declaration as a framework for demanding rights and liberties and as inspiration for innovation and creative expression over decades.
The exhibition draws a wide variety of items from across the Library’s collections, including manuscripts, rare books, images, music, recordings, newspapers, poetry, and popular culture from the 20th and 21st centuries. It is part of the Library’s celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial, America 250: It’s Your Story.
Among 121 items, featured treasures will include:
· A 1690 edition of John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Government.”
· Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence with edits from John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.
· Thomas Jefferson’s copy of Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense.”
· First newspaper printing of the Declaration of Independence.
· Aitken Bible, the first Bible published in an independent America and the only edition of the Bible authorized by Congress.
· John Quincy Adams’ arguments against slavery to the Supreme Court on behalf of kidnapped Africans aboard the Amistad ship.
· Frederick Douglass’ stirring speech on “The Meaning of July Fourth.”
· “America’s Poet” Walt Whitman’s pen, spectacles and first edition of “Leaves of Grass” with his reflections on America.
· Thomas Ayres’ 1855 sketch of Yosemite Valley, which would inspire interest in the American West. Yosemite become a national park in 1890.
· Abraham Lincoln’s handwritten Gettysburg Address (“Nicolay Copy”), casting the Declaration as the founding document for the nation’s ideals.
· Ambrotypes of Civil War soldiers and Civil War-era photographs of the last veterans of the American Revolution.
· A declaration and protest of the National Woman Suffrage Association fighting for voting rights for women read by Susan B. Anthony on July 4, 1876.
· A telegram from Orville Wright announcing the first powered flight in 1903.
· Jazz guitarist’s Eddie Condon’s custom-made Gibson guitar, which his biographer noted was a “uniquely American instrument.”
· Kermit the Frog, who once portrayed Thomas Jefferson with the Muppets playing members of the Second Continental Congress. Various versions of Kermit were submitted for copyright protection by puppeteer Jim Henson.
· Manuscripts from Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Merrily We Roll Along.”
· Sheet music for “One Last Time” by Lin-Manuel Miranda from Broadway’s “Hamilton,” a musical portraying America’s founders.
Free timed-entry tickets are available at loc.gov/visit.
The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov; access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov; and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.
