The South Street Seaport Museum will close its exhibition, The Promise of Liberty: Words That Shaped a Nation, on Sept. 27. The display, located at 213 Water Street in Lower Manhattan, marks America’s 250th anniversary.

Housed on a full floor of the 1868 A.A. Thomson & Co. building, the exhibition traces the evolution of founding American ideals through rare historical documents. Featured items include a first-edition copy of the U.S. Constitution on loan from Kenneth C. Griffin, alongside the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

The collection includes handwritten pages from George Washington’s undelivered inaugural address, the Emancipation Proclamation, and an advance copy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech from the March on Washington. Additional objects feature Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, Frederick Douglass’s 1855 autobiography My Bondage and My Freedom, and a 1765 account of the John Peter Zenger trial.

The exhibition highlights New York’s history as the nation’s first capital and a central printing point. Displays detail how Lower Manhattan printers influenced public discourse, complete with historical typefaces, broadsides, and a working printing press.

Organized in cooperation with Sail4th 250, the exhibition is curated by Seth Kaller and the South Street Seaport Museum as a companion to an exhibition at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Major support is provided by Griffin Catalyst, with additional funding from corporate, state, and city cultural partners.

The exhibition is open Wednesday through Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are available for $10 through the museum’s website.

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