Which body adopted the Declaration of Independence, the founding document commemorated by America250?

The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.

The body met in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War and functioned as the revolutionary government of the thirteen colonies. On July 4, 1776, it approved the final text of the Declaration, which announced the colonies’ decision to separate from Great Britain.

The Second Continental Congress had already been meeting since May 1775, after the fighting at Lexington and Concord. It directed the war effort, created the Continental Army, appointed George Washington as commander in chief, and handled diplomacy while the conflict continued.

It is easy to confuse the Second Continental Congress with the Constitutional Convention. The Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in 1787 and drafted the United States Constitution, eleven years after the Declaration. America250 specifically commemorates the Declaration’s 1776 adoption.