Just in time for the Fourth of July, the Voice of America reports a new copy of the Declaration of Independence has been discovered in British archives:
Researchers in Britain have discovered a rare original copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, just as Americans are getting ready to mark July 4 Independence Day holiday. Officials at the National Archives in London say the poster-sized document was hidden among correspondence from U.S. colonists. They say a local researcher discovered it by chance. Researchers say the so-called Dunlap print is believed to be one of about 200 printed on July 4, 1776. These first copies of the Declaration of Independence were delivered to U.S. political leaders the next day. Only a handful of the copies, named after printer John Dunlap, are known to have survived. The last known Dunlap print sold at an auction in 2000 for more than $8 million.