Fifty-six delegate signatures appear on the engrossed Declaration of Independence tied to America250.
The engrossed document is the formal parchment copy associated with the famous signatures. Most delegates signed it on August 2, 1776, nearly a month after Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4. Other delegates signed later, so the adoption date and the main signing date are not identical.
The 56 signers represented the thirteen colonies in the Second Continental Congress. Their signatures became one of the most recognizable features of the document, but signing was not what made the Declaration legally effective within Congress’s proceedings. Congress adopted the text first; the later signing ceremony helped authenticate and symbolize the collective act. This distinction is a frequent source of confusion in anniversary trivia and explains why America250 focused on the 1776 adoption while still invoking the signers.