Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's history is on display again at the National Archives. After being locked away for two years at an undisclosed location, the original Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence have returned to rotunda of the Archives after undergoing treatment to ensure their longevity. For the first time, all four pages of the Constitution will be on permanent display. Previously, just the first and last pages were. President Bush will help unveil the exhibit Wednesday, with Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and congressional leaders. On Thursday, the rotunda will be opened to the public. The...

<p>The Constitution and other charters that symbolize America's birth belong to the United States, but the "ideals they proclaim belong to all mankind," including people in the turbulent Middle East, President Bush said Wednesday as he unveiled the newly restored documents.</p>

RALEIGH, N.C., Aug. 7 -- They said it was theirs. They said it was stolen. They said more than once that they would never, ever pay to get it back. And now, 138 years after it vanished, North Carolina officials are poised to reclaim their treasured copy of the Bill of Rights, which had fallen into the hands of Connecticut Yankees.It is a long story, beginning in April 1865, in the final throes of the Civil War, when a Union soldier lifted the sheepskin document from the North Carolina Statehouse and marched home to Ohio with it on his back....

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be...

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America   hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,...