[linux_is_nice]

> The Declaration was carefully examined by staff when the document was re-encased in 2001, and no secret treasure map was discovered. "No, that's a Hollywood myth," Kratz said. "There is no treasure map on the back of the Declaration.

[bell-cot]

Actually, there was a treasure map...but General Washington had to dig up the treasure in early February 1778, so that he could meet payroll and make at least "good will" payments on overdue A/R for his Continental Army.

/s

[stronglikedan]

Excuse me, but the highly acclaimed documentary National Treasure says otherwise.

[Maultasche]

Interestingly, there were multiple copies of the Declaration of Independence that were printed and distributed. The one that everyone focuses on is just the copy that the delegates signed.

[Kon-Peki]

Even more interesting is that people keep looking at the document itself when the hidden treasure map is under the Declaration of Independence.

This is a true story - when I took my son to the National Archives in 2020 right before the pandemic, the security guard sent my son on a treasure hunt in the rotunda holding all the founding documents. He found all but one of the treasures ;)