The first formal public readings of the Declaration of Independence were held on July 8, 1776.
The readings took place at noon in three locations: Philadelphia, Trenton, New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, John Nixon read the document to the public in the yard of the Pennsylvania State House, the building now called Independence Hall.
This date came after Congress approved the Declaration on July 4. John Dunlap printed broadsides during the night following adoption, and The Pennsylvania Evening Post became the first newspaper to publish the text on July 6. Public readings then helped spread the declaration beyond Congress.
The July 8 readings are sometimes overlooked because July 4 became the annual national holiday. The declaration’s engrossed parchment copy was prepared later, and most delegates signed it on August 2, so adoption, publication, reading, and signing were separate events.