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| Charters of Freedom | |
|---|---|
| Name | Charters of Freedom |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Created | 1776–1791 |
| Discovered | 1950s |
| Custodian | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Notable | United States Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, Bill of Rights (United States) |
Charters of Freedom are the collective name for three foundational United States documents displayed together in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.. The collection comprises the United States Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the first ten amendments known as the Bill of Rights (United States), and has influenced figures and institutions such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, and Supreme Court of the United States deliberations.
The Charters serve as primary sources for the American Revolutionary War, the Constitutional Convention (1787), and the early United States Congress, anchoring legal debates involving the Fourteenth Amendment, First Amendment, Second Amendment, Tenth Amendment, and doctrines adjudicated by the Marbury v. Madison Court and later decisions like Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. They are preserved by the National Archives and Records Administration under custodianship that follows precedents set by institutions such as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the United Nations archives.
The three items include the United States Declaration of Independence (adopted by the Second Continental Congress), the United States Constitution (drafted at the Constitutional Convention (1787) in Philadelphia), and the Bill of Rights (United States) (ratified through processes involving the United States Senate and state ratifying conventions in states like Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York). These documents are linked to personalities such as Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Roger Sherman, Elbridge Gerry, and later interpreters including John Marshall, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Louis Brandeis, and Earl Warren.
Drafting of the Declaration was chiefly by Thomas Jefferson with input from the Committee of Five including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, and it was adopted on July 4, 1776, during the Second Continental Congress sessions at what is now Independence Hall. The Constitution emerged from compromises at the Constitutional Convention (1787), including the Great Compromise and the Three-Fifths Compromise, with ratification contests played out in the Federalist Papers authored by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. The Bill of Rights was proposed by Madison and ratified in 1791 after debates in state ratifying conventions and interventions by figures such as Patrick Henry and George Mason.
The documents have been displayed in the National Archives Building Rotunda since the Archives opened in 1935, with exhibition practices influenced by curatorial methods from the Smithsonian Institution and archival standards from the Library of Congress. Preservation milestones involved transfers from the Library of Congress and protective technologies developed in collaboration with agencies like the National Institute of Standards and Technology and private conservators linked to institutions such as the American Institute for Conservation. The Rotunda presentation has hosted ceremonies attended by presidents including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and foreign dignitaries from the United Kingdom to France.
Legally, the documents underpin jurisprudence in the Supreme Court of the United States and have been cited in landmark cases like Marbury v. Madison, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v. Arizona, and Obergefell v. Hodges. Culturally, they have inspired movements and leaders such as Abolitionism, Women's suffrage, Civil Rights Movement, activists like Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr., and organizations including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union. Internationally, they influenced documents like the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and constitutional framings in countries such as France, Poland, Japan, and India.
Conservation has employed techniques developed after incidents such as discoloration and ink fading noted in the mid-20th century and addressed through climate control, inert gas enclosures, and noninvasive imaging tools used by teams including specialists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Library of Congress, and private conservation firms that previously worked on artifacts for the Smithsonian Institution and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Threat assessments consider risks from environmental factors similar to those affecting artifacts in events like the Great Flood of 1993 and terrorist incidents such as September 11 attacks, prompting enhanced security measures coordinated with the United States Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, and local agencies including the United States Park Police. Ongoing monitoring draws on research at centers like Harvard University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, and collaborations with international bodies such as the International Council on Archives.
Category:United States historical documents