In an area known for its deep connection to American history, one town near Bucks County recently made another major historical discovery. Kevin Coyne wrote about the historical find in The New York Times.

In Trenton, New Jersey, just across the Delaware River from Bucks County, a fairly recent discovery might be one of the most important in recent history: a draft of the United States Constitution which had been tucked away in a drawer. The draft is directly connected to William Franklin, the last colonial Governor of New Jersey (from 1763–1776) and the son of Benjamin Franklin.

“He didn’t know he’d be our last royal governor,” said Joseph Klett, the director of the state archives. “William Franklin was exiled to England for the rest of his life, and he brought this document with him.”

Drafts like this have helped historians create a more realistic picture of what the making of our Constitution would have been like, as well as the local connections that are to be found in out nation’s founding.

“We may know how it happened in our own little area, but we don’t know how it was connected to things that happened in the rest of the state,” said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “We have never told this story from a state perspective.”

Read more about the important draft in The New York Times.