Stealing Independence

 is a Fallout 3 quest. It is also an Xbox 360 achievement.

Abraham Washington in Rivet City wants you to retrieve the Declaration of Independence for him to display in the Capitol Preservation Society.

Walkthrough
"Under Construction"

The hardest part of this quest seemed to be just getting there in the first place! To get to the National Archives, you must use the Metro system, i.e. the subway! Be careful, as these tunnels are populated by Raiders, Mirelurks, Feral Ghouls and Super Mutants. If you look at the world map view on your trusty Pip Boy, you'll see the usual line of dots that will give you a general idea of where to go. Keep an eye on your compass and map to make sure you're heading in the general direction, and when you get into a station, head up above ground to make sure you're in the right spot.

The National Archives is where Abraham Washington tells you to go to get the Declaration of Independence. When you get to The National Archives on the first floor you'll find Sydney who was sent by Abraham Washington to get the Declaration of Independence before you, but went missing. Be careful as you approach her because she mined the room, and you'll lose karma if you disarm her mines.

She'll ask you to assist holding off two waves of Super Mutants, once you kill about 4 to 6 Supermutants you'll be able to start a dialogue with her and she'll ask to partner up to find the declaration. She has a modified 10mm submachine gun that does 35 DAM. She will not join you for other quests upon completion of this one. Allowing Sydney to be killed by enemies will let the player loot her unique 10mm SMG. If she survives the quest and gets to Rivet City, she will retire from relic hunting and become an ammunition vendor in Underworld. Later, while snooping through the Statesman Hotel (rescuing Reilly's Rangers), keep your Eyes open for a Holotape where a Dad talks to his "little Moonbeam"...

Be careful as you advance through the first floor of The National Archives because there are booby traps and Supermutants. In one of the big rooms you'll find double wooden doors under an exit sign. That will be labeled as the Archives Stronghold and will actually be an elevator that will take you to the stronghold with a computer terminal and a bunch of robot containers and computer terminals next to them. You can use the computer terminal to unlock all the security doors. You'll probably be approached by a robot that has been programmed as the second signer of the declaration Button Gwinnett. He'll offer you a quest to find some ink so he'd be able to forge the Declaration of Independence.

The ink can be found somewhere in Arlington Library. With enough speech skill, you can convince him you're Thomas Jefferson returned to reclaim the constitution, and he will shut himself down and give you free access to his computer. With Robotics Expert you are able to skip the Talksequence and override his faulty programming, enabling an immediate Shutdown (plus Passcode). Finally, you can kill him and the two turrets guarding him in his office. You'll lose karma. Open the fenced off area with three safes and you'll find the declaration.

You can fight your way back up the stairs there will be a bunch of robots trying to stop you if you don't wish to use the elevator (only if you killed Button Gwinnett). On your way up you can find the The Bill Of Rights on one of the floors in the fenced off area with a safe inside. You can sell The Bill Of Rights for a 100 caps to Abraham Washington. Or you can just take back the elevator.

Across from where you found the Bill of Rights, on the local map of the pip boy, there will be the Magna Carta which you can also sell. Best way to take out the heaviest robot is by placing two pulse mines which lowers its health to 3 bars.