Watched the Declaration of Independence lately? Scholars believe Thomas Jefferson intended for the Declaration to be performed, not just read. Its words and cadences are powerful and dramatic, written to be spoken in proud, defiant tones publicly in large places. On
the 225th anniversary of its adoption by the Continental Congress, a rare Dunlap Broadsheet copy of the Declaration, purchased by Norman Lear and his wife Lynn, was the centerpiece of a celebration that included an extraordinary reading by a group of distinguished actors at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.


