MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. (CBS 58) -- On a summer day, a few of America's founding fathers returned for a few hours. Not in Philadelphia, but right here, in Menomonee Falls, where reenactors turned a 250-year-old document into a living lesson.
“It’s the foundation of our new nation,” said “John Hancock,” one of the impersonators. “It is a very fine document, you might know.”
From sword fights to debates over freedom, down to the personalities who shaped a nation.
Performer Clare Horkheimer says history is easier to understand when it steps off the page.
“We’re teaching the kids about Thomas Jefferson and the Barbari pirates,” said Horkheimer. “You know, these are like real stories and it's not just a fantasy of these made-up people.”
That connection is what keeps the Morning Star Productions actors and characters coming back year after year for this interactive performance, putting any history buff in the middle of America's foundation.
“Some of them are very resistant. I like it actually and some of them are fun, just pure fun,” said Theo Williams, a Declaration reenactor.
Williams says the goal isn't just entertainment.
“What was this really about and I think that educational purpose really carries through,” said Williams.
There’s some who take this job seriously, like John Hancock over here, a man famous for the largest signature on the declaration of independence.
“I wanted to make sure the King of England could read it without his spectacles. I want him to know I signed this document,” said ‘Hancock.’
The reenactors say the Declaration's lasting legacy isn't the ink. It's the idea that there would be a nation for the people, of the people, and by the people.
“Here, they can forge a new life. They can homestead. They can explore. They can expand their territory," said "Hancock."
When the Declaration was signed, the man who would become the face of the $100 bill, says there was no guarantee democracy would last a few years, let alone 250.
“We are free men to own our own free country,” said “Benjamin Franklin.”
But as the country prepares to mark a quarter of a millennium since its founding, these reenactors hope the next generation understands why the Declaration still matters.
“In this sort of setting, I think it brings it more to life,” said “Franklin.”
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. Those were the words written 250 years ago for a nation that’s still here, still learning, and still standing strong.
“250 years? That would be stupendous,” said “Hancock.”