243rd Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

On July 1, 1776, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to deliberate the issue of independence. On July 2, 1776, 12 of the 13 colonies voted for independence from Great Britain, with New York abstaining. The 3rd and part of the 4th were spent discussing and revising Thomas Jefferson’s draft declaration. On July 4th the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The actual signing was not accomplished till almost a month later as the Declaration needed to be engrossed on parchment. Except for Robert R. Livingston, most of the other delegates signed by August 2nd. New York approved the Declaration on July 9, 1776.

A Committee of Five, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston, were tasked with the reproduction and distribution of the Declaration of Independence. They procured the services of John Dunlap, the proprietor of a print shop in Philadelphia. Today, some two dozen or so of the Dunlap Broadsides still exist. These copies are different from the original signed copy which is currently located in the National Archives in Washington DC. In 2009 a Dunlap printing surfaced in the British National Archives.

For a detailed discussion of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, see the Declaration Resources Project at Harvard University at: https://declaration.fas.harvard.edu/blog/signing