THE NOMADIC DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

                Here is the history of the Declaration of Independence.

1. Declaring independence was approved by vote of the Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776.
2. July 4, 1776 – President of the Second Continental Congress John Hancock and the clerk signed the document.
3. July 19, 1776 – New York, which had abstained on July 2, made it unanimous.
4. August 2, 1776 – Most of the 56 signers put their signatures on it.
5. 1776-1790 – Packed in a trunk, the Declaration moved around. It spent time at Lancaster and York, Pennsylvania, Annapolis, Maryland, and Trenton, New Jersey.
6. 1790-1814 – It moved to various government buildings as the capital moved from New York to Philadelphia to Washington.  During the War of 1812, when Washington was captured, it was hastily removed to a church basement in Leesburg, Virginia.
7. 1814-1876 –  When it was returned, it stayed in different buildings until it was put in the Department of State.  It was wrapped up like a scroll.  In 1841, Secretary of State Daniel Webster had it framed and placed on a wall in the Patent Office (which was part of the Department of State).  It stayed there for 35 years, decaying.
8. In 1876, it made a trip to the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.
9. 1877-1894 – It was housed in the library of the Department of State.
10. 1894-1921 – It was placed between two panes of glass to slow the deterioration and put in a safe in the State, War, and Navy Building.
11. 1921-1941 – It was displayed in the Library of Congress.
12. 1941-1944 – Because of the war, it was put in Fort Knox.
13. 1944-1952 – It was back in the Library of Congress, but now in a vacuum-sealed glass case.  It was guarded by servicemen.
14. 1952 to present – In 1952, it was transported in an armored personnel carrier escorted by tanks to the National Archives Building.  With a copy of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, it was placed in a bullet-proof, helium-filled glass case.  In 1986, a lunatic with a hammer damaged the outer case, but the inner case was unharmed.  The case can be lowered 22 feet into a 55 ton steel vault.

–  Whitcomb 87-89