Most delegates signed the engrossed Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776.
The date is distinct from July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration. Congress later ordered the approved text to be engrossed on parchment, producing the formal document now associated with the National Archives. Most historians conclude that the principal signing took place on August 2.
The timing has long been debated because some delegates were absent on August 2, while others may have signed later. Several prominent figures, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, believed the document was signed on July 4. Modern historical analysis generally separates adoption from the main signing ceremony.
America250 commemorates the 1776 adoption of the Declaration rather than treating the signing date as the anniversary date. This distinction explains why July 4, not August 2, is the central date of the semiquincentennial.