Library of Congress exhibit traces the evolving words of the Declaration

A rare rough draft of the Declaration of Independence now anchors a Library of Congress exhibit in the David M. Rubenstein Treasures Gallery. The exhibition, The Declaration’s Promise: A Revolutionary Idea, opened July 3 and will remain on view through July 3, 2027, as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary observance.

The display brings together 121 items from the Library of Congress collections and centers Thomas Jefferson’s original draft, a document rarely shown to the public. In that draft, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin left visible marks on the text, including one change in which Jefferson replaced “subjects” with “citizens.” Curator Ryan Reft said the shifting language shows words changing throughout the drafting process, while historian Kevin Butterfield said Jefferson initially wrote, “We hold these rights to be sacred and undeniable,” before Franklin suggested “self-evident.”

The Declaration, 1,337 words long, was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Reft said the phrase “all men are created equal” likely applied only to white men at first and excluded women, enslaved people, Native Americans and others, even as the same language later gave other Americans a tool to demand inclusion. The exhibit links the founding text to women’s suffrage, abolition, civil rights and labor, as well as to innovation and creative expression.

The gallery pairs Jefferson’s draft with Abraham Lincoln’s handwritten Gettysburg Address, a Declaration of Rights read by Susan B. Anthony on July 4, 1876, John Quincy Adams’ arguments in the Amistad case and Frederick Douglass’ speech on “The Meaning of July Fourth.” It also includes Walt Whitman materials, a telegram from Orville Wright about the first powered flight in 1903 and sheet music from Hamilton.