The first printed copies of the Declaration of Independence are called Dunlap broadsides. John Dunlap, a Philadelphia printer, produced them for distribution after Congress adopted the document in July 1776.
A broadside is a large sheet printed on one side, a practical format for posting or reading aloud. Congress ordered Dunlap to print copies quickly so the Declaration could reach colonial governments, military leaders, and the public. About 200 copies are believed to have been printed in the first run.
The copies were sent throughout the colonies, including to George Washington and his troops near New York. They were not the same as the famous handwritten parchment document now displayed at the National Archives. The surviving broadsides are valuable because they preserve the Declaration’s earliest widely distributed printed form.