Question: who tried to steal the declaration of independence
Answer: Cage plays Benjamin Franklin Gates , a historian and amateur cryptologist searching for a lost treasure of precious metals , jewelry , artwork and other artifacts that was accumulated into a single massive stockpile by looters and warriors over many millennia starting in Ancient Egypt , later rediscovered by warriors who form themselves into the Knights Templar to protect the treasure , eventually hidden by American Freemasons during the American Revolutionary War .