A man goes to a Lancaster County antique market and buys a ragged old painting because he likes its wooden frame. Price, $4.
He goes home, removes the painting from the frame and, there, hidden between the painting and its wood backing, he finds a folded document. The document, in almost pristine condition, turns out to be one of the first printed copies of the Declaration of Independence.
Sotheby's announced yesterday that the document - printed July 4, 1776, and one of just 24 known to exist - was discovered two summers ago by a Philadelphia financial analyst who was browsing at an antique market in Adamstown, south of Reading.…
The Declaration of Independence - the formal announcement to the world that the colonies were breaking away from Britain - was adopted by the Continental Congress in Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.
"We hold these Truths to be self-evident," its famous second sentence begins, "that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. "
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