The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
Congress met at the Pennsylvania State House, the building now known as Independence Hall. The state house stood in Philadelphia, then one of the largest and most important cities in British North America. The Declaration’s adoption on July 4, 1776, took place during the Revolutionary War.
Philadelphia served as the meeting place for the Continental Congress during the crucial debates over independence. The city was also the location associated with the later Constitutional Convention of 1787, which met in the same building. This connection makes Independence Hall important to both the Declaration and the Constitution.
The document’s adoption in Philadelphia is sometimes confused with later public readings elsewhere. On July 8, 1776, the Declaration was publicly read in Philadelphia, Trenton, New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania. Adoption and public reading were separate events.