II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2862 

To prohibit the National Archives and Records Administration from including 

content warnings alongside founding documents of the United States, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 

Mr. MARSHALL (for himself, Mr. RISCH, and Mr. BRAUN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To prohibit the National Archives and Records Administration from including content warnings alongside founding 

documents of the United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Treasures 

5 Act of 2021’’. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2862 IS

1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS 

2 ADMINISTRATION CONTENT WARNINGS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 21 of title 44, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 2121. PROHIBITING CONTENT WARNINGS ON FOUND7 ING FATHERS DOCUMENTS. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) CONTENT WARNING.—The term ‘content 

10 warning’ includes any message preceding or attached 

11 to a document that identifies or labels the document 

12 as dangerous, harmful, anachronistic, or any other 

13 term implying harm associated with the document, 

14 disparaging the document, assuming malicious in15 tent on the part of the authors of the document, or 

16 discouraging potential readers from reading the doc17 ument. 

18 ‘‘(2) FOUNDING FATHER OF THE UNITED

19 STATES.—The term ‘Founding Father’ means any 

20 individual who— 

21 ‘‘(A) signed the Declaration of Independ22 ence; 

23 ‘‘(B) served as an officer in the Revolu24 tionary War; 

25 ‘‘(C) attended the Second Continental Con26 gress; 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2862 IS

1 ‘‘(D) attended the Constitutional Conven2 tion; or 

3 ‘‘(E) was granted a charter for one of the 

4 original 13 colonies of the United States. 

5 ‘‘(3) QUALIFYING DOCUMENT.—The term 

6 ‘qualifying document’ means any document, text, 

7 manuscript, book, letter, pamphlet, government doc8 ument, artifact, article of clothing, costume, or item 

9 written in whole or in part, once belonging to, or as10 sociated with in public display a Founding Father of 

11 the United States. 

12 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION.—The Archivist shall not— 

13 ‘‘(1) attach to or associate with any qualifying 

14 document written by a Founding Father of the 

15 United States any content warning; 

16 ‘‘(2) display a content warning as part of an ex17 hibition of any qualifying document is any public 

18 display operated by the Administration; 

19 ‘‘(3) display a content warning on the website 

20 of the Administration or on any other website oper21 ated by the Administration; or 

22 ‘‘(4) make any changes to the rotunda of the 

23 Administration or any other space under their juris24 diction of the Administration that displays qualifying 

25 documents to the public except insofar as changes 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2862 IS

1 are necessary for maintenance, routine operations, 

2 or repairs.’’. 

3 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

4 The table of sections for chapter 21 of title 44, United 

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

‘‘2221. Prohibiting content warnings on founding fathers documents.’’. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS