Fifty-six delegates signed the Declaration of Independence, whose 250th anniversary America celebrates in 2026.
The signers were delegates to the Second Continental Congress representing the thirteen colonies that declared independence from Great Britain. Their names appear on the engrossed parchment copy, the formal handwritten version later displayed at the National Archives.
John Hancock, president of Congress, is the most visually prominent signature. Other signers included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. The delegates did not all sign on July 4; most signed the engrossed document on August 2, 1776, with additional signatures added later.
The number 56 is different from the number of colonies and from the number of delegates who voted on every procedural step. The Declaration represented thirteen colonies, but it carried 56 signatures from their congressional delegates.