Declaration of Independence Road Trip

[sctmom]

After years of creating edgy TV sitcoms and motion pictures that mock the way Americans live, Norman Lear's latest production celebrates the ideals on which America was founded.

 

Known as the Declaration of Independence Road Trip, the project is a multimedia exhibit showcasing an original copy of the blueprint for democracy signed by John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress.

 

About 200 copies were printed July 4, 1776. Only 24 were thought to be in existence until a few years ago, when a flea market shopper found one tucked inside a $4 painting. The copy was authenticated by Sotheby's and an independent expert.

 

Lear, chairman of Act III Communications and creator of the hit series "All in the Family," purchased the document at Sotheby's online auction for $8.1 million. He and his wife, Lyn, had agreed that $5 million would be their maximum, but Lear wanted it so badly he refused to be outbid.

 

"I looked at it and cried," recalls Lear, who turns 80 in July. "This is the birth certificate of my country. I thought if we get it, this document is going to visit Americans rather than sit somewhere on a wall waiting for Americans to come to it."

 

Lear has planned a two-year tour around the United States for the declaration. It comes to Atlanta next week, to the Carter Library, where it will be displayed until July 5.

 

The declaration also was exhibited at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the Super Bowl in New Orleans. The remainder of the schedule has not been set, but Lear wants the document to tour all 50 states by 2004.

 

The trip is sponsored by Home Depot as well as the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Annenberg Foundation and the Lear Family Foundation.

 

A longtime history buff known for his patriotism, Lear hopes viewing the declaration will inspire Americans, especially young people, to be more civic minded and exercise their power to vote. "We realize it isn't the America it wishes to be yet, but it's never stopped working to be that."

 

For more information:

www.independenceroadtrip.org

 

[sctmom]

I wanted everyone to know I saw this exhibit this past weekend. My 10 year old also enjoyed it. The exhibit includes many items. There are original letters and documents from 1776, officer's uniforms, original paintings of Jefferson and Adams, a small cannon, a couple of guns and knifes. They had the uniforms on mannequin. My son was stood in amazement at the fife player -- who was not much bigger than my small child! I'm sure he had heard about young boys playing the fife or drum or bugle, but this stopped him in his tracks, making it real to him. Those things were more impressive to my son than "just a copy" of the Declaration.

 

I urge you to check and see if this exhibit will be near you. Then mark your calendar and make sure you go. The only admission for us was the regular admission to the museum it was at (which was free for under 16).