Boston was an epicenter of the American Revolution and now, a piece of that history is coming back for the 4th of July.
One of the 14 original copies of the Declaration of Independence will be on display at the Massachusetts Archives and Commonwealth Museum in Boston this Independence Day.
This rare document was sent by the Continental Congress to Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War, according to Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin’s office, and was printed at Mary Katherine Goddard’s shop in Baltimore.
This copy includes the famous signature of John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress and one of Massachusetts’s own prominent patriots. It will be on display from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the 4th of July.
This isn’t the first time this copy of the Declaration of Independence has been on display here, according to the state. It’s been a popular 4th of July attraction in the past — more than 1,600 visitors came to catch this glimpse of history at the Commonwealth Museum on July 4, 2017.
Along with the Declaration of Independence, patriotic patrons of the museum on the 4th of July will have the chance to see an exclusive showing of two more historic national treasures: the Treaty of Watertown and a letter to the Massachusetts General Court from George Washington.
Treaty of Watertown was signed just weeks after the Declaration of Independence on July 19, 1776, by representatives of the Mi’kmaq and St. John (Maliseet) nations of northern New England and Canada. It is, according to Galvin’s office, “our country’s first international agreement and recognized the United States as an independent nation.”
In the letter, which will be shared during a one-time display, George Washington details how Congress has “asserted the claims of the American Colonies to the rights of Humanity and declared them Free and Independent States.”
The Commonwealth Museum is located at 220 Morrissey Blvd. at Columbia Point in Dorchester. Admission and parking are free.
