Type: Public Event

Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation

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Date & time

Jul 9-26, 2026, All Day

Location

Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation
Freedom Plane National Tour

Exhibit Highlights

  • Original Engraving of the Declaration of Independence, 1823: One of only about 50 known engraved copies of the Declaration of Independence, printed from a copperplate of the original. Commissioned by John Quincy Adams and made by engraver William J. Stone, the engraving captured the size, text, lettering, and signatures of the original document (on loan from David M. Rubenstein).
  • Articles of Association, 1774: Signed by all 53 delegates, the Articles of Association urged colonists to boycott British goods and was the Continental Congress's first major unified act of resistance against Britain.
  • George Washington's, Alexander Hamilton's, and Aaron Burr's Oaths of Allegiance, 1778: Oaths of Allegiance that all officers of the Continental Army signed during the Revolutionary War.
  • Treaty of Paris, 1783: Signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, this Treaty with Great Britain formally recognized the United States as an independent nation.
  • Secret Printing of the Constitution in Draft Form, 1787: A rare copy of the U.S. Constitution in draft form, with the delegate's handwritten notes made during the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
  • Tally of Votes Approving the Constitution, 1787: The voting records of the Constitutional Convention reflecting the debates, resolutions, and eventual vote on the final text that would become the Constitution.
  • Senate Markup of the Bill of Rights, 1789: After the Constitution was ratified by the states and became the supreme law of the land, Representative James Madison proposed a series of amendments. Several states advocated for additional protections for individual liberties. This is the U.S. Senate's "markup" of what became the Bill of Rights. On September 25, 1789, Congress passed these 12 amendments, and they were sent to the states for approval. Articles 3 through 12 were ratified in 1791, ensuring such basic American freedoms as the right to freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and freedom of assembly.