(gentle upbeat music) - "The Declaration of Independence" was a statement of principles as part of a broader American revolution that in some ways continues today.

- Liberty and equality for all.

Are we meeting the threshold right now?

Not really, but it's an aspiration.

It's a goal.

- That opening paragraph is the vocabulary that Americans have been using to assert their rights for the last 250 years.

- We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

- The rhetoric of the declaration invokes all citizens, but really who was implied in "The Declaration of Independence" was wealthy land owning men.

- This document had limitations.

And I think it's an obligation for those who are here today to challenge those limitations.

- If we don't challenge the presumption that what's been is what will always be, we'll never be able to move forward to a better place where we truly are all equal.

(gentle upbeat music) - We have an opportunity here in the 250th in Philadelphia with The Declaration's Journey, I think, to educate our visitors, not just Americans, but people from around the world about, you know, what The Declaration was, what it is.

The words were written in 1776.

The words have not changed, but the meaning of those words has evolved.

- "The Declaration of Independence" was part of the American Revolution.

The American Revolution was a break from Great Britain of some of the colonies of the British Empire in North America.

- There were economic factors.

There was the ongoing war, which had started in April of 1775, and most of all, there was this real interest in having representative government and having the voice of the people heard in a way that it hadn't been under British rule.

- So the Committee of Five was created in June of 1776 to write "The Declaration of Independence", Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Roger Sherman.

- And on July 2nd, they actually decide to vote to declare independence from Great Britain.

Then they turn their attention to "The Declaration of Independence" and they approve "The Declaration of Independence" on July 4th.

- This is a story that begins in the 18th century, but that continues into the present day, and to represent that through two objects is the best thing a museum can do.

- As visitors walk into The Declaration's Journey, they're going to see two very different pieces of furniture.

One is a Windsor chair that was owned by Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of "The Declaration of Independence", and the other is a metal jail bench from the Birmingham Jail that Martin Luther King Jr.

sat on as he wrote his well-known letter from Birmingham Jail.

- [Matthew] Martin Luther King was in that jail in Birmingham, Alabama because he had led a peaceful protest march, advocating for civil rights in that city.

- He's sitting there in this metal bench and he talked about Jefferson and how marvelous Jefferson's words are, but how much of a failure it was for him and people like him.

- King in that letter is justifying his cause in the face of critics who were saying, "Now is not the time to be doing what you're doing."

But what King was saying in response to those critics was that I am following in the footsteps of another person that you might consider a radical Thomas Jefferson.

- Slavery is not explicitly mentioned in "The Declaration of Independence", but it could have been.

- There was a 28th grievance in the list that got removed.

That grievance was written by Thomas Jefferson, and in it, he describes slavery, specifically as a form of human oppression.

The king was thereby using the oppression of one people to threaten another people with anger and uprising.

- And ultimately the continental Congress compromised and cut that grievance because it felt like a step too far.

Everything else they could fairly attribute to King George III, but this was a bit too much to blame him for the entire transatlantic slave trade.

- Had it not been removed, the document would begin with a statement of equality, and then conclude with a statement about the horrors of oppression of slavery.

- By not including that part, it became as brilliant as it was one of the most hypocritical documents in history.

The people who are writing the document sitting there said it is self-evident that all men are created equal didn't really believe that particularly when it came to Africans.

- Many of the representatives of the Congress, even though they're agreeing to these words and adopting these words, are enslaving people back at their homes.

(soft tense music) (upbeat music) - [Philip] This exhibit is not about the creation of "The Declaration of Independence" as a document.

It's about its reception, and the way future generations transformed it, debated it had conflicts over it.

- We hope this generation and those that follow will sort of recommit themselves.

So owning the declaration, being proud of it, you know, not throwing it away because the nation that was created in 1776 was not perfect.

- Whether or not we feel emotionally tied to the declaration, it does speak to our deeper histories and a lot of the statements within it.

They inspired so many movements.

- All citizens get to have a say in the outcome of our government.

There cannot be some sort of king or monarchy that imposes their will upon everyday citizens.

- Every human being, regardless of their religion, of their faith, of their color, where they come from, in this country is free and has inalienable rights.

- It speaks to everyone, and I think because of that, anyone should be entitled to claim it.

His, her, them, it's a declaration for all.

(gentle upbeat music)