Fifty-six people signed the United States Declaration of Independence.
The signers were delegates to the Second Continental Congress, representing the 13 American colonies that declared independence from Great Britain. Although the document was adopted on July 4, 1776, most delegates signed it on August 2, and additional signatures were added later.
The group included prominent figures such as John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Samuel Adams. The signers were not all present on the same day, and some delegates who supported independence did not sign the final document.
The Declaration’s famous engrossed parchment lists the names by colony, beginning with John Hancock’s large signature. The number of signers is often confused with the number of colonies or the number of delegates in Congress, but those totals are different.