John Dunlap printed about 200 first-edition broadsides of the Declaration of Independence for America250’s founding story.
A broadside is a large sheet printed on one side, designed for public display or circulation. After Congress approved the Declaration on July 4, 1776, Dunlap printed the first published version during the night at his Philadelphia shop.
The exact original quantity is not documented with complete certainty, so historians generally describe the total as about 200. The copies were distributed throughout the thirteen colonies and to military and political leaders. They made the Declaration available before the later parchment engrossed copy was widely viewed.
Only a small fraction of the Dunlap broadsides survive today. Twenty-six copies are known, including one discovered at the National Archives in England in 2009. The surviving number should not be mistaken for the original print run: most of the approximately 200 sheets have disappeared.