How did North Carolina get back its copy of the Bill of Rights?
In late February 2003, Governor Michael Easley learned from the Governor of Pennsylvania that North Carolina’s original copy of the Bill of Rights was being offered for sale to a museum in Philadelphia. Governor Easley requested North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper and the United States Attorneys in Philadelphia and Raleigh to initiate legal proceedings to recover the document. With the full cooperation of the Philadelphia museum, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents seized the document on March 18, 2003. North Carolina obtained possession of the manuscript in August 2005 through legal proceedings in the federal district court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The State is involved in proceedings in state superior court to establish clear legal title to the document.
