What happened to the original declaration of independence?

[Vesayen]

Well Fallout 3 takes place in Washington DC so guess which historical document is the subject of a neat side quest?

Now the kneejerk reaction you may have to my answer is the national archives. That is where the copy that the second continental congress signed. That is the school child answer.... well if they taught U.S. history anymore.

So it got me thinking. Where is the copy sent to England? I looked around a bit and a cursory googling did not get me an answer.

By what process was it actually sent to Britain? Was it given to agents of Britain in the colonies, was a copy sent by ship to England? What is the process that the British got the declaration?

If an "official" copy was sent to Britain or given to British agents in the colonies, where is THAT copy?

I read that a copy was sent to ship by England, but I am not confident of the source.

[SlowwHand]

Original

http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=287&display_order=7&mini_id=1056

Three copies to England

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070310192558AA4rYxt

[Vesayen]

Read the links.

So are the 3 copies on any sort of display, or locked away in some British archive?

[Zkribbler]

Due to a lack of photocopy machines at the time, several originals were made.

I believe one is safely stored away in Fort Know.

[snoopy369]

So, it sounds like the answer to your question is, "In the National Archives in DC". I'd consider that one the original, to the extent there is an original (as we didn't send one directly to England).

[Winston]

The Queen has it. She uses it as a stress reliever, packs it into a ball and throws it in the corner when things get on her nerves.

[SlowwHand]

"We hold three known copies of the declaration - two Dunlap prints and one by Hugh Gaine. All three copies were sent to England by crown servants in the course of their duties and are to be found among the records of the appropriate departments (the Colonial Office and the Admiralty).

And no, there were no photo copies; but there was certainly a method of printing.
Ignorant redneck Texans? You make me laugh.

A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring an image. The systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johann Gutenberg in ca. 1439.[1] Although both woodblock printing and movable type printing technologies were already developed in ancient China and later Korea in East Asia a few hundred years prior, they did not use a press like that of Gutenberg.

Printing methods based on Gutenberg's printing press spread rapidly throughout first Europe and then the rest of the world. It eventually replaced most versions of block printing, making it the most used format of modern movable type, until being superseded by the advent of offset printing.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Read Pauline Maier's American Scripture. Great book, great discussion of the history of the Declaration, including the ways in which it wasn't very original and the fact that it was largely forgotten -- literally stuck in a drawer (at the State Department) -- for a long while after the Revolution.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
Read Pauline Maier's American Scripture. Great book, great discussion of the history of the Declaration, including the ways in which it wasn't very original and the fact that it was largely forgotten -- literally stuck in a drawer (at the State Department) -- for a long while after the Revolution.

Ironic, considering its author was our first Secretary of State.

Of course, he was really ticked at the changes made in it by Congress before its passage.

[Verto]

One would've thought the British would have trashed or burned the copies they received.

[Impaler[WrG]]

My understanding is that the finalized hand written copy that was physically present at congress and approved by their vote was signed by only John Hancock, it was then sent directly to the printing shop to create the Dunlap broadsheet. That 'original' was lost by the printer immediately after the printing, one of the Dunlap's was sent back to Congress the next day and that copy was signed by the whole congress. So depending on which thing you consider to be the 'original' Declaration of Independence.

[Imran Siddiqui]

There was a treasure map cipher on the back of it

[DaShi]

And I thought that this thread would be a discussion about how the meaning of the declaration has been lost in America for decades now.

[Zkribbler]

Here's what Wiki has to say

Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms. It was initially published as a printed broadside that was widely distributed and read to the public. The most famous version of the Declaration, a signed copy that is usually regarded as the Declaration of Independence, is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Contrary to popular mythology, Congress did not sign this document on July 4, 1776; it was created after July 19 and was signed by most Congressional delegates on August 2.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
There was a treasure map cipher on the back of it

Also pirates are magic and VW Bugs can win races.