The American Civil Liberties Union is giving away free pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution, a cheeky dig at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

It wasn't always quite so easy to get a look at the Constitution. In the early years of the republic, interested parties made expensive special engravings for private collections and the occasional public display, giving the document the kind of heft one would expect from an instrument that called a new form of government into being.

Some of the oldest versions of modern democracy's bedrock charters are now being exhibited at the Oregon Historical Society. Along with the Constitution, "Democracy's Blueprints: The Documents that Built America" includes versions of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Monroe Doctrine and Britain's Magna Carta. The newly opened exhibit runs through February 1, 2017.

"In this election year, there is no better time to see and study the documents that built and continue to guide our democracy," Oregon Historical Society Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk said in a statement. "With the exception of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., I don't think there is any museum in the country where you can see so many priceless historic printings and engravings at one place at one time."

The exhibit includes an illuminated, hand-engraved copy of the Magna Carta, the 13th-century peace treaty between King John and rebellious barons that established that even the English monarch was subject to the law. The Magna Carta, or "Great Charter," served as one of the inspirations for the U.S. Bill of Rights.

Then there's the Monroe Doctrine, which doesn't spark the American imagination like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights but has played a key role in making the U.S. what it is. President James Monroe's 1823 address warned European powers to direct their colonial ambitions away from "the American continents," insisting on pride of place for U.S. influence in the New World. It was the first true inkling the world had that the former British colony had plans to be a great power in its own right. Presidents have invoked it time and again down through the decades to justify protecting and extending U.S. influence in the Americas.

All told, "Democracy's Blueprints" offers a valuable civics lesson that's sure to ignite debate about what makes the American experiment so special. It's worthy of a visit from a leading presidential candidate, even if he already has a mini-copy of the Constitution in his pocket.

-- Douglas Perry