About 200 Dunlap broadsides of the Declaration of Independence were estimated to have been printed.
John Dunlap printed the broadsides in Philadelphia on the night of July 4, 1776, after Congress approved the Declaration. These sheets were the first published copies, produced rapidly so the text could circulate through the colonies and reach military leaders and foreign observers.
The estimate is not an exact surviving count. Only a limited number of original broadsides are known today, and discoveries have changed the total over time. Unlike the later engrossed parchment, the Dunlap broadside did not contain John Hancock’s famous handwritten signature; it included his name in the printed attribution.
The broadsides helped transform a congressional decision into a public announcement. Their immediate distribution was especially important because the Declaration was intended not only for the colonies but also for an international audience. They are now among the most valuable and historically significant American documents.