Fifty-six delegates signed the engrossed Declaration of Independence central to America's 250-year story.
The engrossed copy is the formal parchment document preserved today, with the delegates' handwritten names. Most historians conclude that the principal signing ceremony took place on August 2, 1776, nearly a month after Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4.
The signers represented the thirteen new states, though the number of names was not evenly distributed among them. John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, made the most prominent signature. Future presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson also signed, along with Benjamin Franklin and other leading revolutionary figures.
The number 56 is sometimes confused with the number 13, which refers to the colonies or states, and with the number of delegates present on a particular day. Not every signer was present when Congress adopted the text, and several added their names later. The final list nevertheless contains 56 signatures.