Printer John Dunlap produced roughly 200 copies of the Declaration on the night of July 4, 1776, to be distributed and read publicly.
Only 26 are known to survive today, most held by museums, universities, and archives.
This rare privately held copy sold in 2000 for $8.14 million.
A document written explicitly to belong to "the people" now, for the most part, belongs to whoever can afford eight figures for a piece of paper.
Ad space