America's freedom from England was hard one. Men, women and children fought, and many died for the future they believed in. This future was finally realized in 1776 with the end of the Revolutionary War and the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The documents which marked the turning points in America's great struggle for freedom remain for us today.

In this book, twenty-six of these documents are reproduced: Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence, Washington's last official letter and others all the way up to the United Nations Charter, drafted in 1945.

Each is presented on its own page. The facing page tells the story of the document in clear, easy-to-understand language.

Mrs. Hays says of her book, "In 1957 the Library in East Haven, Connecticut, received a Freedom Shrine consisting of photographs of the 28 original documents having to do with America's freedom. They were displayed in the library, but the librarian reported that most children knew very little about the history of the documents and so missed their meaning. I then wrote a page of information for each photograph and pasted it on the back. From this project grew the idea of making these priceless documents and their stories into a book."

From the dust jacket