Bill of Rights

Today, we went to see the Bill of Rights on display at the library. It was one of only 12 surviving copies. We learned some interesting tidbits about the original Bill. It contained 2 amendments that were passed by North Carolina but not part of the original bill that passed. Taken during the Union occupation of Raleigh during the final days of the Civil War and then sold to a NC family, the Shotwells, who held it in their home for 150 years, the Bill of Rights came home to North Carolina in 2005. North Carolina Governor Mike Easley worked with law enforcement officials from North Carolina, Pennsylvania, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to recover the copy when the family tried to sell the document to a museum in Philadelphia. Signatures on the North Carolina copy include Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, speaker of the House of Representatives, and John Adams, vice-president and president of the Senate. The document also has the signatures of John Beckley, clerk of the House of Representatives and Samuel A. Otis, secretary of the Senate.