New Dunlap Copy of the Declaration of Independence Emerges in Great Britain

According to the Associated Press, British researches have made a startling announcement. They have found an original rare copy of America's Declaration of Independence. "Katrina McClintock, a spokeswoman at the National Archives in Kew, England, said Thursday that a researcher accidentally discovered the "Dunlap print," named after a printer, several months ago." The lucky researcher was looking through a file of 18^th century documents for something entirely unrelated when she stumbled upon the Declaration of Independence.

The reason for such a delay in announcement was that the National Archives wanted the Declaration of Independence to be "properly catalogued" before making an announcement. The time of their announcement couldn't have come at a better time, because the finding of the Declaration of the Independence will definitely generate some heavy traffic to their display and website during the Independence day weekend.

The National Archives' specialist in colonial materials, Edward Hampshire was incredibly excited over the find, because most scholars agree that there were no more than two-hundred Declarations of Independence printed. Of course, discovering a printed document that is nearly 250 years old in such good condition is really rare.

According to National Archive officials, the last Dunlap print of the Declaration of Independence sold at auction for $8.14 million dollars back in 2000. Although, they said that they were uncertain how that copy ended up on the auction block.

Another archives spokeswoman Frances McDarby, told interviewers that their copy of the Declaration of Independence possibly came into British hands by interesting means.

She said that it was "possible that an American coastal vessel was intercepted by the British navy and that is how the document was able to come into our possession."

The Dunlap Prints of the Declaration of Independence are collectively known as the Dunlap Broadside, and were the original copies of the Declaration of Independence. According to historians, they were "printed by John Dunlap of Philadelphia and distributed to political and military leaders, including George Washington, and dispatched throughout the colonies to be read to the public."

The finding of these documents are extremely important, because the Declaration of Independence marks the true beginning of the United States of America. The National Archives of Britain at Kew, England released a photo of the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 2009. It is reported that this copy of the Declaration of Independence is the twenty-sixth copy to be discovered that had printed by Dunlap.

References:

The Declaration of Independence at: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jcFZGF_TArNMHGexwmrexNNjrqyQD996E1K80. Retrieved from the world wide web on July 4, 2009.

The National Archives at:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/. Retrieved from the world wide web on July 4, 2009.