A rare copy of the Declaration of Independence survived the Civil War hidden behind wallpaper. Later

During the Civil War, the precious document was hidden behind wallpaper in a home in Virginia to keep Union soldiers from finding it.

Later, it sat in a closet in Kentucky, in a broken frame, unappreciated and stored in a cardboard box.

And later still it was stuck behind a cabinet in the office of an energy executive outside Houston.

It was a rare parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence, made in Washington in the 1820s for founding father James Madison, and apparently unknown to the public for more than a century.

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JANFU said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...op-stories-2_declaration-425pm:homepage/story


Hopefully this will be placed on public display.

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JANFU said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...op-stories-2_declaration-425pm:homepage/story

During the Civil War, the precious document was hidden behind wallpaper in a home in Virginia to keep Union soldiers from finding it.

Later, it sat in a closet in Kentucky, in a broken frame, unappreciated and stored in a cardboard box.

And later still it was stuck behind a cabinet in the office of an energy executive outside Houston.

It was a rare parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence, made in Washington in the 1820s for founding father James Madison, and apparently unknown to the public for more than a century.


Hopefully this will be placed on public display.

Click to expand...

WarmPotato said:

Now THIS is news!

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His family had once had it framed and put on the mantelpiece. His parents knew it had been passed down through his family from Madison. But in the 1960s it was considered “worthless,” O’Mara said.

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“I agreed to buy it,” Rubenstein said in a recent telephone interview, noting only that he had paid “seven figures” for it.

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