As part of the nation’s upcoming 250th birthday, several historic American founding documents are traveling aboard a “Freedom Plane” to museums around the country.
According to the North Star Journal, the unprecedented traveling exhibit will include documents signed by George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and other leaders of the American Revolution.
Normally preserved under strict environmental controls at the National Archives, the historical materials are rarely transported outside the facility. The nation’s 250th anniversary, however, is an exception.
The “Freedom Plane” began its journey March 2 with a stop in Kansas City, Missouri, where it had been transferred to the National WWI Museum and Memorial. Future stops will include Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston, Denver, and Miami.
Other documents in the tour include the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which officially concluded the Revolutionary War, and the 1774 Articles of Association, which urged colonists to boycott British goods.
The exhibit also features an 1823 engraving of the Declaration of Independence produced from the original copperplate and oaths of allegiance signed in 1778 by Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and other Continental Army officers.
A draft of the U.S. Constitution containing handwritten notes from delegates is also a part of the exhibit.