The Declaration's Journey 

On view at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia from October 18, 2025 to January 3, 2027, the NEH-funded exhibition The Declaration’s Journey marks the 250th anniversary of our nation's founding by exploring the history and global impact of the Declaration of Independence from 1776 to today. With more than 100 nations having integrated its ideals into their own independence movements, the exhibition showcases how American Declaration of Independence has become one of the most influential political documents in modern history, gathering together for the first time in one place some of the most important and rare documents, works of art, and artifacts from around the world that reflect the complex 250-year history and legacy of the Declaration of Independence. 

The special exhibition features more than 120 artifacts and documents—some on display to the public for the first time— ranging from the Windsor chair Thomas Jefferson is believed to have used while in Philadelphia when writing the Declaration to the steel prison bench Marin Luther King Jr. sat on in April 1963 while drafting his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." The Declaration’s Journey exhibition examines how national and international leaders like Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Vicente Guerrero, the Marquis de Lafayette, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, Harvey Milk, and many more have used the Declaration’s words to inspire hundreds of political revolutions and civil rights movements from the 18th century through to today.

In addition to NEH grants to support the planning and implementation of The Declaration's Journey, a $2.2 million cooperative agreement between NEH and the Museum of the American Revolution is supporting public programs and educational resources to extend the exhibition's reach. These include a scholarly exhibition catalog and podcast series about the influence of the American Declaration of Independence on other international rights documents and movements, a public conference on the 250-year impact of the Declaration on international history, and an interactive digital resource that provides the history and context of passages of the Declaration and their connection to 450 other declarations of sovereignty and equality made across the globe since 1776.