Original Copy Of Declaration Of Independence On View At Dorchester Museum

History-minded revelers can celebrate the Fourth of July by checking out an original copy of the Declaration of Independence at the state's Commonwealth Museum.

The document was one of 14 original copies and was sent by the Continental Congress to Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War.

The copy was printed in the Baltimore shop of Mary Katherine Goddard and bears the signature of Massachusetts' own John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress.

Other items in the exhibit include letters from John Hancock announcing the Declaration of Independence and an account book from the War of 1812 with one of the earliest written references to the phrase "Uncle Sam."

Thousands have visited the Dorchester museum on July Fourth in recent years to view the document.