Freedom’s Documents Land in Colorado
As America approaches its 250th birthday and Colorado prepares to celebrate 150 years of statehood, a remarkable piece of history has quietly arrived in Denver.
Many of us still remember the excitement of the 1976 Bicentennial Freedom Train as it traveled across the nation carrying historic treasures that helped Americans reconnect with their heritage. Nearly 50 years later, a new chapter is being written.
The Freedom Plane National Tour has landed in Colorado.
For the first time, a collection of some of America’s most treasured historical documents has traveled outside Washington, D.C., bringing our nation’s founding story directly to the people. The exhibit opened at the History Colorado Center and runs through June 14.
Among the featured artifacts are the original engraving of the Declaration of Independence and a rare draft of the United States Constitution. These are not reproductions found in history books. They are authentic connections to the men who risked everything to establish a nation founded on liberty, representative government and individual freedom.
Tickets to the exhibition are free, making this a rare opportunity for families, students and history enthusiasts to experience the foundations of our republic firsthand. The exhibit is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the History Colorado Center, 1200 Broadway in Denver.
Dawn DiPrince, president and chief executive officer of History Colorado and Colorado’s state historic preservation officer, perhaps said it best: “These documents embody the revolutionary idea that we are all a nation bound together by shared ideals.”
At a time when political arguments dominate television, social media and even family dinner tables, there may be no better moment to revisit the principles that united America at its birth. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the other founding documents are more than historic artifacts. They are the blueprint of a free people.
Too often we debate what America should become without taking time to study what America was intended to be. We celebrate freedom without fully understanding the sacrifices required to preserve it. We argue about our future while forgetting the vision that guided our beginning.
Coloradans should flock to this exhibit.
Parents should bring their children. Teachers should encourage their students to attend. Citizens of every political persuasion should spend a few moments standing before these documents and reflecting on the extraordinary experiment in self-government they represent.
The United States has endured wars, economic crises, political turmoil and profound social change during its first 250 years. Through it all, the principles contained in these documents have remained the foundation of our democracy.
As we prepare to celebrate America’s semiquincentennial and Colorado’s sesquicentennial, this exhibit offers a timely reminder that freedom is not automatically passed from one generation to the next. It must be understood, appreciated and protected.
The Freedom Plane has landed in Colorado carrying the documents that shaped our nation.
Now it is our turn to come aboard.