5 interesting facts about the Declaration of Independence

Something on the back

In 2004, a major action movie starring Nicholas Cage known as “National Treasure” was released to theaters, with the film’s plot claiming that there was a treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence.

According to the Declaration Resources Project at Harvard University, there is indeed something written on the back of the document, although it's not what one might think.

“There is no map, but there is something on the back of the engrossed and signed parchment. A label at the bottom of the parchment reads, ‘Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776,’” stated the Project.

“This handwritten note gives a real clue into the history of the Declaration of Independence, which spent much of its early existence rolled up with other documents, under the care of Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress.”