The Declaration of Independence

(music)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

[Narrator] When the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, preserving it for future generations was hardly their priority. The document spent decades on the move, first traveling with the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War, then being shuffled from building to building, even hidden away during moments of national crisis. Today, it rests safely under glass at the National Archives. But decades of travel, exposure and time have left the original so faded it's a little difficult to read. An artifact at the State Historical Society of Iowa shows how more than 100 years ago, the son of a Founding Father understood that preserving America's story would require creating exact high-quality replicas of the document that paved the way for our Constitution.

[Jessica Nay, Archivist State Historical Society of Iowa] This artifact is a copy of the Declaration of Independence. In 1820, the then Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned William Stone, a printer in Washington, D.C. to create a copper plate engraving of the Declaration of Independence.

This plate was completed in 1823 and was created using a wet ink transfer process. It was the first perfect reproduction of the original document. The plate was used to print approximately 200 copies and to be distributed to surviving signers and other government officials. And then about 20 years later, a second printing of the document from the same copper plate was commissioned for a nine-volume publication of books called American Archives. About 1,500 copies was ordered in this printing, although it's estimated that quite a few less copies were actually produced.

The transfer process that William Stone used was intended to create as few differences as possible. It was supposed to be a perfect reproduction, but you can identify his printings by a printer's mark that's found at the bottom.

[Narrator] The difference in readability between Stone's copies and the original is significant.

[Nay] Printings from the copper plate will be easier to read than the original because they are newer and they've been handled a lot less. The original, when it was first created, it was rolled, and so it was rolled and unrolled quite a bit for people to see it and for copies to be made. So, because of all of that handling, it became quite worn. So that was one of the reasons that Congress commissioned the copper plate engraving, so they could preserve the original and continue to make copies without doing more damage.

[Narrator] This copy of the Declaration of Independence has been part of the State Historical Society of Iowa's Special Collections since 1947. It's one of the exact facsimiles made from the Stone copper plate in 1843. How do we know? That small printer's mark is easily visible. Among the signatures alongside the mark, one holds a connection to Iowa.

[Nay] This copy was donated to us by Mary Thornton Davenport. She was a resident of Altoona. She is a descendant of the family of Matthew Thornton, who was the final signer of the Declaration.

[Producer] And this is the only copy in Iowa?

[Nay] That I know of. I can't say that for certain, but most likely, yeah.

[Narrator] Unlike Thomas Jefferson or John Hancock, Matthew Thornton is a largely overlooked Founding Father. An Irish born immigrant, Thornton was a physician, soldier and statesman and an early critic of British policies. His leadership in New Hampshire earned him election to the Continental Congress. But not until September 1776, months after the Declaration of Independence was first signed.

Every man who signed the Declaration understood the gravity of the act. It was, by British law, treason punishable by death, imprisonment, and the loss of all property. When Matthew Thornton penned his name four months after the initial signing, he did so fully aware of the consequences. Yet he still signed without hesitation.

[Nay] This copy of the Declaration of Independence has found its way to Iowa through a descendant of one of the signers. And now it's preserved here at the State Historical Society for Iowans to connect with the founding documents of the United States.