American treasures: the secret efforts to save the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address

Prologue

Early 1941. "It is natural that men should value the original documents"

1776. "We hold these truths ..." ; "The unanimous Declaration"

1941. "The preservation of national morale"

1787-1791. "Suspended upon a single hair" ; "Our doors will be shut" ; "That a national government ought to be established" ; "We are now at a full stop" ; "The people are the King" ; "Approaching so near to perfection ..." ; "Tis done! ... We have become a nation"

1941. "A place of greater safety"

1814. "Take the best care of the books and papers ..." ; "Such destruction

such confusion"

1942. "The Library of Congress goes to war"

1826-1860. "I had flattered myself that he would survive the summer" ; "No government upon the earth is so safe as ours"

1942-1943. "Are you satisfied we have taken all reasonable precautions?" ; "He loved peace and he loved liberty"

1860-1924. "Four score and seven years ago ..." ; "Of the people, by the people, for the people ..." ; "The instrument has suffered very seriously" ; "Touch any aspect of the address, and you touch a mystery"

1944. "Nothing that men have ever made surpasses them"

1952. "They are not important as manuscripts, they are important as THEMSELVES" ; "The National Archives will not forget" ; "Symbols of power that can move the world."