Most delegates signed the engrossed Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776, a detail relevant to the history behind America250.
Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4, but the final parchment copy was prepared afterward. On July 19, Congress ordered that the document be engrossed, meaning carefully handwritten on parchment, with the title “The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America.”
The signing took place primarily on August 2 at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia. Fifty-six delegates eventually signed, though some were absent on that date and added their names later. John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, signed prominently.
The common belief that every delegate signed on July 4 comes partly from the date written on the document and from later recollections by Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin. Historians generally distinguish adoption on July 4 from the principal signing ceremony on August 2. This is why America250 centers on July 4 while the document’s signing history has a different key date.