John Dunlap printed 200 broadside copies of the United States Declaration of Independence.
John Hancock, serving as president of the Second Continental Congress, commissioned Dunlap to print the declaration quickly after Congress approved it. Dunlap was a Philadelphia printer who produced the broadside, a large single-sheet format suited to distribution and public display.
The copies became known as the Dunlap broadsides. They were sent through the thirteen colonies and to George Washington’s army, with instructions that the declaration be read aloud. Copies also traveled to Britain and other parts of Europe, helping spread news of the colonial break with the Crown.
The number 200 refers to the original printing order, not the number of surviving copies. Only a limited number of Dunlap broadsides are known to survive today, making them extremely valuable historical artifacts. They differ from the later engrossed parchment copy that delegates signed.