The Pen is Mightier: Writing a Revolution

The Pen is Mightier: Writing a Revolution is on display at the Utah State Capitol Building on the 4th floor, presented by America250 Utah. It's an exhibition that looks at how Revolutionary-era leaders used printing presses and secret codes to spread their ideas and spark action, and it's open through December 2026.

Much of the show is built around archival objects, and one of the biggest draws is an original copy of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, published in January 1776. That pamphlet is credited with rallying the colonists and is believed to have influenced the Declaration of Independence, so seeing an actual copy from the time puts the whole era into a different perspective. The exhibit doesn't stop with the well-known leaders, though; it brings in under-represented voices from the period, including enslaved people, women, and indigenous people, and asks what was happening on Utah's own landscape in 1776.

There's also a local connection that ties the whole thing together. The show celebrates Utahns' own contributions to world communications, which links it back to the nation's semiquincentennial—the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Between the Revolutionary-era printing and the later developments in communication, it's a look at how the tools people use to share information can actually change the course of history.

You'll find it on the 4th floor of the Capitol, 350 N. State Street in Salt Lake City. Admission is free. It's open daily, Monday through Thursday from 7 AM to 8 PM and Friday through Sunday from 7 AM to 6 PM, so you can drop in whenever fits your schedule.