Voting record of the Constitutional Convention, 1787 (first page). For 4 months, the delegates debated fundamental questions relating to government, power, and human nature. Each and every issue of the Constitution was painstakingly argued and resolved. The voting records reflect the countless concessions and compromises that produced the Constitution. This page records the final vote taken September 15, 1787. Delegates to the Convention signed the proposed Constitution on September 17, 1787. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention. Due to conservation restrictions, different pages will be displayed at each venue.

Signature PageLouisiana Purchase Treaty, April 30, 1803. The Louisiana Purchase added 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River to the United States. For roughly 4 cents an acre, the United States had purchased a territory whose natural resources amounted to a richness beyond anyone's wildest calculations. National Archives and Records Administration, General Records of the U.S. Government. Due to conservation restrictions, this document will be displayed in New York, Columbus, and Atlanta. A related treaty from the Louisiana Purchase will be on display in Kansas City, San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Hartford.

Page Two, Page Three. The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862. President Lincoln proclaimed in this document that all slaves in states that were still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, would be free. One hundred days later, with the Confederacy still in full rebellion and the nation approaching its third year of bloody Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. National Archives and Records Administration, General Records of the U.S. Government. Due to conservation restrictions, different pages will be displayed at each venue.

Page Two, Page Three, Page Four, Page Five. Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Lincoln, 1863. National Archives and Records Administration, General Records of the U.S. Government. That proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." Due to the fragility of this document, it may be exhibited for no longer than four days in each city.

Thomas Edison's patent application for an "Improvement in Electric Lamps," November 1, 1879. Thomas Edison propelled the United States out of the gaslight era and into the electric age. In 1878, the creation of a practical long-burning electric light had eluded scientists for decades. With dreams of lighting up entire cities, Edison lined up financial backing, assembled a group of brilliant scientists and technicians, and applied his genius to the challenge of creating an effective and affordable electric lamp. On January 27, 1880, Edison received the historic patent embodying the principles of his incandescent lamp that paved the way for the universal domestic use of electric light. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Patent and Trademark Office. Due to conservation restrictions, some venues will display the first page of the original document and a facsimile of the second page, while the other venues will display a facsimile of the first page and the original second page.

Page Two, Page Three. German Military Surrender, signed at Berlin, May 8, 1945. This document was a purely military surrender, aimed at ending the fighting and halting any further bloodshed. Article 4 provided for a more general political surrender that would come later. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Due to conservation restrictions, this document will be displayed in New York, Columbus, and Atlanta. The Act of Military Surrender, signed at Rheims on May 7, 1945, will be on display in Kansas City, San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Hartford.

John F. Kennedy's handwritten draft of his inaugural address, January 17, 1961, first page. In this draft written three days before the inauguration, Kennedy wrote down 15 statements, most of which were used in the final speech after being revised and refined in subsequent drafts. While most of the speech looked to the future, heralding "a new generation of Americans," its opening lines saluted the past and the legacy of the American Revolution. Kennedy linked himself to the Presidents that preceded him in taking the oath to uphold and preserve the U.S. Constitution. National Archives and Records Administration, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts. Due to conservation restrictions, different pages will be displayed at each venue.

New York Public Library, New York, New York:
George Washington's first inaugural address, delivered April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall, New York City. Washington's reading copy of the speech showed his final revisions and pause marks, so he recopied the entire document, the version shown here, for formal presentation to Congress. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. Senate, reproduced with the permission of the U.S. Senate.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago, Illinois:
Notebook recording the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, December 2, 1942. This notebook is a product of the Manhattan Project, an all-out, but highly secret effort of the federal government to build an atomic bomb during World War II. The work was conducted in a laboratory at the University of Chicago. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Atomic Energy Commission, Great Lakes Region (Chicago).

Ohio Historical Center, Columbus, Ohio:
President Abraham Lincoln's nomination of Ulysses S. Grant, a native son of Ohio, to be Lieutenant General of the U.S. Army, February 29, 1864. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. Senate, exhibited with the permission of the U.S. Senate.

Jimmy Carter Library, Atlanta, Georgia:
President Jimmy Carter's draft, "Framework for a settlement in the Sinai," 1978, page 1. The issue of Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai emerged as the greatest obstacle to a peace agreement between the two countries. Throughout the negotiations, President Carter clung fiercely to the goal of an agreement, even as both sides threatened to leave. He served, not only as mediator, but also as draftsman, immersing himself in the minutest details of the proposed agreements to produce compromise proposals. This is one of several working drafts that President Carter personally produced over the course of the negotiations. National Archives and Records Administration, Jimmy Carter Library, Atlanta, Georgia.

Union Station Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri:
A note, in case of failure, written by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 5, 1944, but misdated July 5. Heavy rains, high winds and rough seas complicated the decision on the exact timing of the D-day invasion. In the early morning hours of June 5, 1944, with meteorologists predicting a temporary break in the weather, Eisenhower gave the final order that put the vast operation in motion. Hours later, he wrote this note and slipped it into his wallet. It was a statement that he would issue in case the operation were to fail. The only apparent hint of nerves on his part is his error in dating the note "July 5," instead of June 5. Weeks after his troops had breached the Nazis' "Atlantic Wall," Eisenhower tossed this note in the wastebasket. It was retrieved by his naval aide, Captain Harry Butcher, and is now among the holdings of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library in nearby Abilene, KS. National Archives and Records Administration, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas.

Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas:
Credentials of the Honorable Sam Houston, Senator from Texas, February 21, 1846. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. Senate, exhibited with the permission of the U.S. Senate.

Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, California:
John Wayne's application for employment with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), August 2, 1943. Wayne applied for, but did not receive, a commission with the OSS during World War II. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Office of Strategic Services.

Museum of American Political Life, Hartford, Connecticut:
Opinion of the Supreme Court in United States v. The Amistad, March 9, 1841. Senior Justice Joseph Story wrote and read the decision of the Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the Africans on board the Amistad were free individuals. Kidnapped and transported illegally, they had never been slaves. The decision affirmed that ". . . it was the ultimate right of all human beings in extreme cases to resist oppression, and to apply force against ruinous injustice." The Court ordered the immediate release of the Amistad Africans. The first court proceedings in the Amistad case took place in Hartford's Old State House. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Supreme Court of the United States.