Philadelphia official John Nixon publicly read the United States Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776.
Nixon read the document in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall. The reading occurred four days after Congress approved the Declaration and was one of the first formal public readings of the document.
The Declaration was also read publicly that day in Trenton, New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania. These simultaneous readings helped transform a congressional action into a public announcement throughout the colonies.
John Nixon was a Philadelphia financier, civic official, and militia officer during the American Revolutionary War. He is sometimes confused with John Hancock, whose large signature appears on the Declaration, or Charles Thomson, the Continental Congress secretary who attested the printed broadside. Nixon’s role was specifically the public reading in Philadelphia.