The “Freedom Plane” holding nine seminal fragments of the American Revolution landed this week at Opa-locka Airport.
Miami elected officials, Miami Museum’s CEO and a team from the National Archives Foundation welcomed the plane Monday on the hot tarmac, as the founding documents from 250 years ago arrived for their stay in the Museum of Miami for a two-week exhibition.
The “Freedom Plane National Tour” is an exhibition curated by the National Archives, in which the nine documents travel to eight museums across the U.S. in honor of the country’s 250th birthday.
The Museum of Miami will display the documents from June 20 to July 5, but the exhibition was opened to donors and elected officials in a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.
Miami’s diversity made it a perfect candidate for the exhibition, said National Archives Foundation CEO Patrick Madden.
“I don't know how we would do this exhibition without Miami, because Miami really represents the melting pot,” Madden said. “It represents America.”
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Among the rare documents: the original Treaty of Paris, oaths of allegiance signed by George Washington and Alexander Hamilton and an engraving of the U.S. Constitution from 1823.
Madden says these documents are emblematic of the compromises that formed the American Revolution.
“Everybody can sort of see themselves in them because the founders came from other places, other perspectives, and came together to form this democracy,” Madden said. “So the idea that Miami has all these different cultures and diversity of conversation, that's exactly what the founders were.”
The documents sit on tables under thick glass cases in the museum’s north building, where visitors can be inches away from these pieces of history.
Madden hopes visitors’ physical engagement with these documents encourage a "civic spark" and encourage them to play a role in seeking a "more perfect union."
“No matter your age or generation you can look at this and ask, ‘This is what they thought the country should be. How do I play a role in that today? What's my role in continuing democracy or what I want to see out of this country?’” Madden said.
The exhibition also contains U.S. Senate markups on an early draft of the Bill of Rights and a state delegation voting record on a draft of the U.S. Constitution.
Natalia Crujeiras, CEO of the Museum of Miami, finds these ‘works in progress’ to embody the spirit of sacrifice and engagement that defines democracy.
“When you see these documents and you see an early annotated version of what became the Bill of Rights, and it's scratched and rewritten, it bears witness that these founding fathers disagreed on the path forward,” Crujeiras said. “They had different ideas of what the path forward was, but they stayed at the table and they negotiated, and they built the first experiment on self-government in our history.”
She hopes that the “Freedom Plane National Tour” encourages Miami residents to reflect on what it means to be ‘Miamian.’
“When you love a place like when you love a person, you do extraordinary things for them,” Crujeiras said. “We want people to get involved, to appreciate the history of Miami, to feel pride in this incredible place.”
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IF YOU GO
WHAT: Freedom Plane: Documents That Forged a Nation
WHEN: June 20-July 5
WHERE: Museum of Miami, 101 West Flagler Street
Miami, FL 33130.
Ticket info: Museum of Miami highly recommends obtaining advance tickets to the Freedom Plane National Tour. Limited complimentary same-day admission tickets to the Freedom Plane National Tour exhibition will be available at the museum on a first-come, first-served basis.
During the Freedom Plane Exhibition, the museum will be open Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
