Harvard Researchers Find Lost Copy Of Declaration Of Independence

Over the weekend, two Harvard researchers announced a stunning new discovery: a previously unknown early handwritten parchment version of the Declaration of Independence that they found in a small provincial archive in England.

This a hugely significant discovery, because the only other handwritten parchment copy of the document is the one under bulletproof glass at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. And because this newly found copy varies from that document in an important way.

Danielle Allen is the director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard, and a professor of political theory.

Emily Sneff is a researcher at Harvard's Declaration Resources Project.