The Declaration’s Journey

To mark the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, the Museum will present a major special exhibition exploring the history and global impact of the Declaration of Independence from 1776 to today. Opening Oct. 18, 2025, The Declaration’s Journey will showcase how, with more than 100 nations having integrated its ideals into their own independence movements, the American Declaration of Independence has become one of the most influential political documents in modern history. This visually captivating exhibition will gather together for the first time in one place some of the most important and rare documents, works of art, and artifacts from around the world that reflect the complex 250-year history and legacy of the Declaration of Independence. 

The Declaration’s Journey will be accompanied by robust public programming for a wide range of audiences, free online educational resources for teachers and students, and a series produced in partnership with WHYY, Philadelphia’s PBS affiliate, to extend the exhibition’s national reach and impact.

The Museum is poised to play a leadership role in the upcoming 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding in 2026. As we continue to transform the nation’s relationship with its Revolutionary past by increasing awareness of the many ordinary, diverse, and little-known people who created the American nation. Through this special exhibit, digital initiatives, and educational programs, we aim to facilitate widespread conversation about the meaning of the American Declaration of Independence and its ongoing legacy.

First Travels (1776-1783)

The exhibition begins with the story of Jonas Phillips, a Jewish merchant in Philadelphia who sent a letter, written in Judeo-German to keep its contents secret, and a Dunlap broadside of the Declaration of Independence to Amsterdam in July 1776. That copy never arrived, as the ship carrying it was captured by a British warship. The letter and Dunlap broadside will be on view along with Phillips’ notes referencing the Declaration’s promise of freedom of conscience — an early example of the emerging meanings credited to the Declaration. Other objects and documents in this introductory section convey how a July 1776 reading of the Declaration led the Mi’kmac and Maliseet communities of New Brunswick and Maine to enter into the first treaty to recognize the U.S. as an independent nation; how the French celebrated the Declaration and helped to announce the U.S. as a nation of the world, available for diplomacy and alliance; and how a small minority, all abolitionists, pioneered the use of the Declaration as an egalitarian document.

A Worldwide Journey (1780-1830)

The story moves abroad to examine how international interpretations of the Declaration of Independence pressured Americans to clarify their own understanding of the founding document, especially its language about equality. The Marquis de Lafayette borrowed language of the Declaration in his “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” (1789) but clarified language about equality. The Haitian Declaration of 1804, as well as the declarations adopted in Mexico and Chile, pushed and pressured Americans into conversation and conflict over the tensions within their own Declaration’s promise.

A Divided Declaration (1831-1898)

The narrative returns to the United States, exploring the Declaration’s appropriation by abolitionists, suffragists, and Confederate secessionists. Items may include Frederick Douglass’s typescript oration from 1852, best known for the line “What to the American Slave, is your Fourth of July?” and a printing of the Seneca Falls Convention’s Declaration of Sentiments, which launched the modern women’s suffrage movement with the addition of the phrase “and women” to the Declaration’s statement that “all men” are created equal.

Examples of Native American Declarations of Sovereignty and Independence, including Mashpee and Cherokee, show ways that the Declaration’s language was re-fashioned in the 1800s by people described in the original document as “savage.”

The Declaration’s Journey (1898-Present)

In this final section, visitors will see more and more people claim the legacy of the Declaration. At the end of WWI, Czechoslovakia, Korea and six other nations adopted their versions of a declaration of independence and by the mid-1900s, the Declaration was increasingly understood as a fundamental statement of human rights and equality. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream,” speech is perhaps the best-known example of this understanding of the Declaration as a far-reaching promise. Visitors will leave the exhibition with an understanding of our Declaration as part of an ongoing revolution, a continuing effort to secure fair government and individual rights for people in the United States and around the world.