Original Copy Of The Declaration Of Independence Visits Portland

GENERAL NEWS 

By Pete Springer

Portland, OR  June 20, 2008 1:04 p.m.

A rare copy of the Declaration of Independence will in Portland Saturday and you can check it out for free.  Pete Springer has the details.

From 10am to 5pm a copy of the Declaration of Independence will be on display at the Rose Garden arena in Portland.

Admission and parking are free.

Neil Grubbs is president of Cricket LCW, the group sponsoring the event.

He says one goal of bringing the Declaration of Independence to town is to register new voters as part of a “Declare Yourself” movement.

Neil Grubb: “Declare yourself is a program which is focused on getting young people to register to vote.  And in the last two years, they’ve been successful in registering more than two million people in the United States.” 

The copy of the Declaration that will be on display is owned by Hollywood producer Norman Lear.

It's one of 200 copies made on July 5th, 1776, by a congressional printer and distributed to the colonies.

Only twenty-five of those copies are known to exist, and this is the only one that goes on tour.

The original Declaration of Independence is in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
  

Share this article: del.icio.us digg newsvine

© 2008 OPB