What are the first published copies of the Declaration of Independence called?

The first published copies of the Declaration of Independence are called Dunlap broadsides.

John Dunlap, a Philadelphia printer, produced the broadsides on the night of July 4, 1776, after Congress approved the Declaration. A broadside was a large sheet printed on one side, allowing the text to be distributed quickly without binding it into a book.

The Dunlap copies were sent throughout the Thirteen Colonies and to military leaders, helping spread news of Congress’s action. They included the printed names of John Hancock and Charles Thomson, but not the full list of delegates who later signed the parchment copy.

The Dunlap broadside is often confused with the Goddard broadside. Congress commissioned Mary Katharine Goddard in 1777 to print a version that included the names of the signers, making it the first widely distributed copy to identify them.