For America250, John Trumbull painted the famous 1818 scene of the Declaration’s drafting committee presenting its work to Congress.
The painting is commonly called Declaration of Independence, although it does not show every delegate signing the parchment. Instead, it depicts Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston presenting the draft to the Continental Congress.
Trumbull based the composition on portraits and firsthand knowledge of some participants, but the scene is an artistic reconstruction rather than a precise photographic record. Several people shown were not present in the exact arrangement depicted.
The painting became especially familiar because its image appears on the reverse of the United States two-dollar bill. Its ceremonial composition has helped shape popular memory of the Declaration, even though the document’s adoption and signing occurred through separate stages.