Here are some fun facts about the Declaration of Independence that aren't as self-evident...
When the United States truly needed to protect the original Declaration of Independence, it called on Louisville, KY. On December 23rd, 1941, roughly two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, uncertainty over the likelihood of a direct attack on Washington, DC led officials to evacuate the Declaration of Independence from its public display and store it in a secure location. The document was pad-locked in a specially made container, encased and sealed with lead, then placed once more into another larger, sealed container; all told, 150 pounds of protection surrounded those immortal words. Along with other historic documents—the U.S. Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, the Lincoln Cathedral copy of the Magna Carta, and the autographed 1st and 2nd drafts of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address—and protected by a group of secret service agents, the precious cargo traveled by train to Louisville, KY and was then transported by an armored division to Fort Knox, there to stay until 1944.
The declaration of independence was not actually signed on July 4, 1776. Richard Henry Lee put forward a motion of independence on July 2, 1776, and 12 of the 13 colonies voted in favor (New York abstained from voting until July 9th, due to their home assembly not yet granting permission for them to do so). Thomas Jefferson drafted a statement—the basis of the Declaration of Independence—and from July 3rd through July 4th the members of the second continental congress debated...
