Declaration of Independence to stop at Monticello

The Associated Press
© October 15, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE

Visitors to Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop home will get a glimpse of one of the original versions of the Declaration of Independence, which the third president considered his crowning achievement.

A touring copy of one of the 26 known copies of the first printing of the iconic document Jefferson drafted is scheduled to be on display Wednesday at Monticello's visitors center. The first run was printed hastily starting on the evening of July 4, 1776; it isn't the version that contains the Founding Fathers' signatures.

The copy appearing at Monticello was purchased by television producer Norman Lear and his wife in 2000 for $8.1 million.

Nearby University of Virginia has two of the first-printed copies.

The copy will make a stop in Virginia Beach next week.

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