John Dunlap produced the first widely distributed broadside copies of the Declaration of Independence, a key part of the founding story marked by America250.
Dunlap was an Irish-born printer working in Philadelphia and the official printer to the Continental Congress. After Congress approved the declaration, John Hancock commissioned him to print copies for distribution.
Dunlap worked overnight and produced about 200 broadsides. These early printed sheets carried the declaration’s text to military leaders, colonial communities, and other readers faster than handwritten copies could have done.
The original manuscript used by Dunlap has not survived. The surviving sheets are called Dunlap broadsides and are among the most important early physical witnesses to the Declaration.