The Declaration of Independence US Tour

When many people think of the Declaration of Independence, they think about one of the roll-up copies you can buy for $35 at some lame museum. As a middle school student, I never thought I would have the chance to see one of the original copies.

There are only 12 original copies of the Declaration of Independence, one of which was recently found at a garage sale, only the seller didn't know it was there. A man bought a mural for $4 at a yard sale to later find out that one of the original copies of the Declaration was hidden in it. It sold for $8,000,000 and is now touring around America.

This particular copy of the Declaration will be visiting Austin, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, Los Angeles, California, Miami, Florida, Phoenix, Arizona, and Trenton, New Jersey.

On it's tour in Los Angeles, they had the Declaration for viewing in the Powers Hall (Auditorium) of Andrew Carnegie Junior High School, which happens to be the school that I am attending as an 8th grader. Carnegie is located in Carson, not exactly Downtown LA like many people were expecting. Nothing interesting like this usually happens in Carson, so it was a BIG deal.

Carnegie was picked to feature this important piece of history because of the high academic achievement. They had news casters at the school and on KTLA channel 5 News, they announced that the Declaration of Independence was going to be at Carnegie Middle School.

The 2 guards, who some thought to be secret service men rather than just guards, picked special students to be "honor guards" to help guide the lines and make sure no one took pictures with flash cameras. 8th graders got the chance to see it first because we are learning about the Declaration in our history classes. It was open to the public after school from 4:00pm - 6:30pm during Open House.

Some people thought it was whatever and didn't show up for the Open House, but they should realize how important this is. The Declaration gives us our freedom, our rights, and this was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime chance. It wasn't a Nation Treasure story, but the people who saw it will remember it forever. This particular copy was over 200 years old, but hopefully more people get the chance to see something so great.