For the first time this century, America's founding documents will be taken out of the capital Washington

Several of the founding documents of the United States of America will be removed from the capital of Washington in the 21st century to be displayed in several cities as part of a tour celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the country, reports CNN.

“This initiative is about bringing history to life, capturing the national spirit of celebration, and sending America's great birthday party from the nation's capital to America's heartland,” said Monica Crowley, chief of protocol at the State Department.

Another first is that the documents will be transported across the US by air, with its own plane called the “Freedom Plane”.

It took off from Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington on Monday, with Kansas City, Missouri as its first stop. The docs will travel to eight cities through August, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami and Seattle.

What documents will be transported across the US as part of the celebrations

Documents include: an original engraving of the Declaration of Independence; The Pledges of Allegiance of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr; as well as the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution.

“The safety and security of the documents has been paramount since this tour was conceived,” said Jim Byron, a representative of the National Archives in Washington. “Typically, they are kept in secure vaults at the National Archives and are not taken out very often,” he explained.

The “Freedom Plane” is a tribute to the 1976 “Freedom Train,” which carried the founding documents on a cross-country tour of the U.S. bicentennial.

Before that, founding documents of the US, including the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, were transported during World War II to Fort Knox, the militarized facility where the US keeps its gold reserves, for safekeeping.

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