Which body approved the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776?

The Second Continental Congress approved the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776.

The Congress brought together delegates from the Thirteen Colonies during the Revolutionary War. It appointed the Committee of Five, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, to prepare a formal declaration explaining the break with Great Britain.

Congress approved the Declaration on July 4, 1776. That approval is the central historical event commemorated by the United States Semiquincentennial. The Declaration was not the same thing as the Lee Resolution, which formally voted for independence on July 2. Nor was it created by the Continental Army, the military force directed by Congress. The parchment engrossed copy was signed primarily on August 2, 1776, although the Declaration had already been adopted and publicly printed.