The engrossed parchment of the United States Declaration of Independence bears the signatures of 56 delegates.
The signers represented the 13 colonies that declared independence from Great Britain. John Hancock, president of the Second Continental Congress, signed prominently, and the other names are arranged by state. The group included figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and George Washington did not sign because he was serving with the Continental Army and was not a delegate to Congress.
The Declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776, but most delegates signed the formal parchment on August 2. Some members signed later, and the exact signing chronology has been debated because not every signer was present on the same day.
The number 56 refers to individual delegates, not the number of colonies or the number of original states. The famous document is also distinct from the earlier printed broadsides, which did not carry the complete handwritten signature list.