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A rarely encountered complete set of Peter Force's series documenting the early history of North America and the United States. "This great storehouse of British Colonial and American history was printed by order of the United States Government. It was the intention to divide the work into six series, from 1493 to 1789. The nine volumes described are all that have appeared." (Sabin). The first volume of the fifth series is of particular significance for the presence of a remarkable facsimile of the Declaration of Independence, the single most important document in the history of our nation. This finely executed copper engraving, measuring 27¾x25½", was printed from the original copperplate made by William J. Stone in 1823. In that year, Congress authorized the production of facsimile copies of the Declaration of Independence, either because the original document was deteriorating or, according to some writers, because the surviving signers were aging and were desirous of copies to spark their memories of the momentous occasion. At any rate Stone was commissioned to use a new Wet-Ink transfer process to create a copperplate from which facsimile copies could then be made. By wetting the original document, some of the original ink was transferred to the copperplate, which was then used for printing. Stone printed 201 copies on parchment (or vellum, the same type of material on which the original was handwritten). These were distributed to Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, members of Congress, surviving Signers, colleges and universities, etc. Peter Force used the original Stone copperplate to print additional copies to be included in Vol. I of the Fifth Series of his American Archives. Congress had authorized up to 1500 copies of the work to be printed, but subscriptions fell far short of that, and perhaps as few as 500 copies were actually produced, though other estimates range as high as 1000. Most copies of the Declaration have been removed from the volume in which they were issued, and have suffered wear as the result. The present example (inserted after column 1596) was unfortunately, when trimmed for binding, trimmed to a height 1¾" shorter than the full 29½", the result is the unfortunate loss of the facsimile signature of Carter Braxton. This serious flaw aside this example is otherwise near pristine, with just the normal faint offset and a very short start of a stub tear at edge.