Liberty and Freedom: North Carolina's Tour of the Bill of Rights Continues

North Carolina’s original copy of the Bill of Rights, taken from the State Capitol in 1865, and recovered in an undercover operation in 2003, will come to the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh Sept. 17-23, as part of “Liberty and Freedom: North Carolina’s Tour of the Bill of Rights.” Each stop on the statewide tour, which continues through the fall, features speakers who discuss a particular amendment, in addition to the exhibit.

“The tour of the Bill of Rights is a fitting way to mark ‘History Happens Here,’ which is Cultural Resources’ departmental theme for 2007,” said Secretary Lisbeth C. “Libba” Evans. “From the birth of the first English child in the New World, to the first formal sanction of independence, to the first discovery of gold in the U.S., North Carolina has much history to share.”

Symposium Details Bill of Rights Freedoms

A one-day symposium at the Museum of History coincides with Constitution Week. On the afternoon of Sept. 17, Charlene Bickford, editor of the papers of the First Federal Congress at George Washington University will speak on the origins of the Bill of Rights and her role in identifying North Carolina’s copy. Dale Talbert and Karen Blum, attorneys with the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office, will discuss the history of this copy of the Bill of Rights from 1789 to the present and their role in representing the state’s claims to the document. That evening Walter E. Dellinger III, Douglas Maggs Professor of Law at Duke University Law School, will speak about the Ninth Amendment, which details non-enumerated rights protected by the Bill of Rights.

In addition to Raleigh, other stops throughout the fall include:

• Charlotte, home of the Mecklenburg Resolves, will showcase the Right to Assemble/Petition, Oct. 5-7. The Bill of Rights will be on display at the library and performing arts center ImaginOn.
  
• Asheville, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, will host Right to a Jury Trial and Due Process, Nov. 8-10. The Bill of Rights will be on display at UNC-Asheville.
  
• Greensboro, site of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse will feature the Right to Bear Arms, Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. The Bill of Rights will be on display at the Greensboro Historical Museum.
  
  

“Go see it!”

Earlier this year, the Bill of Rights traveled to Fayetteville, Wilmington, and Edenton to wide acclaim. One visitor wrote, “Working for the Federal Government, I see it lived out everyday in the lives of our soldiers and airmen.” Another advised, “GO SEE IT! Get ‘goose bumps’ and feel the history.”

The fragile document is made of parchment. It is approximately 31 3/8 inches x 26 1/2 inches. After the document’s recovery, the Department of Cultural Resources had it professionally conserved and framed. Signatures on the North Carolina copy include Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg as speaker of the House of Representatives and John Adams as U.S. vice-president and president of the Senate. The document also has the signatures of John Beckley, clerk of the House of Representatives and Samuel A. Otis, secretary of the Senate.

A Well-Traveled Document

Believed to have been taken during the Union occupation of Raleigh during the final days of the Civil War, the Bill of Rights came home to North Carolina in 2005 after 140 years. The document was recovered in March 2003. Dealers were trying to sell the document to a museum in Philadelphia.

Liberty and Freedom is presented by the the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, which includes the State Archives, 27 historic sites, seven history museums, Historical Publications, Offices of Archaeology and Preservation, the State Library, including genealogy, the N.C. Arts Council, N.C. Museum of Art, and N.C. Symphony.

Cultural Resources is a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Now podcasting 24/7 with information about the Department of Cultural Resources, all available at www.ncculture.com.

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