LEESBURG, Va. (7News) — Two hundred fifty years after the Declaration of Independence was signed inside Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, it rests safely behind thick glass inside the National Archives building on Constitution Avenue in Washington.
But more than 200 years ago, America’s founding document, including the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, came dangerously close to falling into enemy hands — and Northern Virginia played a critical role in saving them.
As the nation marks America’s 250th birthday, a little-known chapter of the War of 1812 is drawing renewed attention. In August 1814, as British troops advanced toward Washington and prepared to burn the capital, government officials launched a frantic effort to evacuate the nation’s most treasured records.
“At that time, there was no National Archives,” explained Archives historian Jessie Kratz. “So the State Department was in charge of high-level records. Think about Acts of Congress, treaties, the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights.”…