Which 1777 printer first printed the Declaration with the signers' names?

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The 1777 printer who first printed the Declaration of Independence with the signers’ names was Mary Katharine Goddard.

Congress ordered an authenticated copy for distribution to the states in January 1777. Goddard, a Baltimore printer and postmaster, produced the edition now called the Goddard broadside. Unlike John Dunlap’s earlier 1776 broadside, it included the names of the Declaration’s signers.

Goddard’s work was politically courageous: printing revolutionary material could expose a printer to serious danger under British rule. The broadside also carried the line “Baltimore, in Maryland: Printed by Mary Katharine Goddard,” making her one of the most visible female printers of the Revolution.

A common mix-up is confusing the first printed Declaration with the first printed version naming the signers. Dunlap printed the first broadside in 1776; Goddard produced the later, landmark signer-list edition.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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