Most delegates signed the engrossed Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776, a detail relevant to the history behind America250.
The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4, but the formal parchment had to be prepared before the principal signing. Historians generally conclude that the ceremony took place at the Pennsylvania State House, now called Independence Hall, in Philadelphia.
The common image of every delegate signing on July 4 is therefore misleading. The document itself bears that date, and some delegates later remembered a July 4 signing, but congressional records and the chronology of delegate attendance support August 2 for the main signing.
Fifty-six delegates eventually signed the Declaration. John Hancock, president of Congress, signed prominently, while the names were arranged by colony or state group, with Hancock treated separately from the geographic list.