The Declaration of Independence was signed mainly on August 2, 1776, rather than on its July 4 adoption date.
Congress approved the Declaration’s final wording on July 4. It later ordered an engrossed copy—an official, carefully handwritten parchment version—to be prepared for signing. Most historians conclude that the main signing took place at the Pennsylvania State House on August 2, after the parchment had been produced.
Some delegates may have signed later, and historical evidence shows that not every signer was present in Philadelphia on July 4. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin later described a July 4 signing, but other records and delegate attendance make that scene unlikely as commonly imagined.
The distinction matters because America250 commemorates the founding process as a sequence of events: independence was resolved on July 2, the Declaration was adopted on July 4, and the parchment was signed mainly on August 2.