40 Documents of Our American Heritage Freedom Train

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The 1947 Freedom Train The original Freedom Train with an Honor Guard Detachment of 29 United States Marines in their dress blues who guarded the train and served as interpreters, was a red, white and blue diesel electric streamliner which traveled on a 37,160-mile tour beginning in Philadelphia on September 17, 1947 and traveling to all 48 states which ended on January 22, 1949 in Washington D.C. At the time it was the only train-set ever to operate in every state, operating on 52 different railroads. Over 3 million people boarded the Train during its stops in 326 cities and towns across the land with the highest single-day attendance at 14,615. The 1947 Freedom Train housed America's most precious documents and other national treasures, including the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, one of the 13 original copies of the Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, the Iwo Jima flag, the German and Japanese surrender documents that ended World War II, a precious original of the Magna Carta, written in 1215. The purpose of the Freedom Train as quoted by Thomas D'Arcy Brophy, President of the American Heritage Foundation, was "To persuade all Americans that only by active personal participation in the affairs of the nation can we safeguard and preserve our liberties and continue to demonstrate to ourselves and to the world that the way to free men is best." Long after the running of the Freedom Train (well into the 1960s), the American Heritage Foundation continued to make the documents carried by the train available in a reproduced form. A portfolio of 40 reproductions was made available to teachers through dozens of sponsors. This example was sponsored by the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan (near Detroit).Documents included: Letter by Christopher Columbus on the Discovery of America (in Latin, 1493) The Mayflower Compact (1620) Title page from the Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in the North American colonies (1640) First page from the New-York Weekly Journal, November 25, 1735, edited by John Peter Zenger while he was in jail for criticizing the Governor Benjamin Franklin's editorial for the Pennsylvania Gazette on the Zenger affair (November, 1737) 2 pages from Thomas Jefferson's Statement on the Rights of Colonists (1774) Paul Revere's Commission as a Messenger (April 18, 1775) Thomas Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence (June 11-28, 1776) Introduction and first page of Thomas Paine's Commmon Sense (January 10, 1776) First page of the first issue of Thomas Paine's newsletter, The Crisis (1776) Benjamin Franklin's own epitaph in his own hand (August 31, 1771) George Washington's Revolutionary War account book in his own hand (it balanced within less than one dollar) (1776) Broadside announcing the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown (October 25, 1781) Letter from John Paul Jones to Gouverneur Morris (September 2, 1782) Letter from Thaddeus Koscuiszko (the George Washington of Poland) to General Nathanael Greene (July 14, 1786) The Northwest Ordinance (1787) George Washington's own annotated copy of the Constitution (1787) The Bill of Rights (1789) First page of a pamphlet printing of the speech of the count of Mirabeau giving tribute to Benjamin Franklin (in French, 1790) Letter from President George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, stating that the United States government gives no sanction to bigotry and no assistance to persecution (August 1790) Proclamation of thanks from the United States Congress to the National Assembly of France thanking them for the tribute to Benjamin Franklin (March 2, 1791) President Washington's Farewell Address (1796) 2 pages from An Essay on the Liberty of the Press by George Hay (1799) Original manuscript of The Star Spangled Banner (September 1814) Page from the Logbook of the U.S. Frigate Constitution (1815) Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in his own handwriting (November 19, 1863) Letter fro... read more

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