Minnesota Lawyer Blog

The Declaration of Independence is now in town, so let the Sesquicentennial festivities begin!
Politics in Minnesota has a video chronicling the arrival of one of the oldest extant copies of the historic document to our fair state. (Click here to see the video.) This copy of the Declaration was one of 200 produced on July 4, 1776. (Only 25 are known to have survived -- and only this one travels.)

The Declaration flew in yesterday accompanied by two security guards and its handler, Christie Manning. It will be on display at the Minnesota History Center through the Sesquicentennial celebration. The declaration was brought to Minnesota courtesy of Dolan Media, which is the parent company of Minnesota Lawyer, Finance and Commerce, the Legal Ledger (Capitol Report) and Politics in Minnesota.

Flying around with the Declaration would be an interesting job. What does it say when the customs agent asks if it has anything to declare? ("Why, yes. We hold these truths to be self evident ...") By the way, the Declaration gets its own first-class seat -- although I assume it declines the complimentary cocktail ...

I hope you all get a chance to see the Declaration while it is here. It's rare to be able to forge such a close link with the Founding Fathers. It's definitely an opportunity that should be taken advantage of -- particularly given that it's free.