John Dunlap produced the first widely distributed broadsides of the Declaration of Independence for the 1776 events commemorated by America250.
Dunlap was the official printer to the Continental Congress. After Congress adopted the Declaration, he printed approximately 200 broadsides, large single-sheet copies intended for public distribution. These became known as the Dunlap broadsides.
The first copies allowed the news of independence to travel beyond the congressional meeting room. George Washington ordered the Declaration read aloud to the Continental Army in New York, helping turn a congressional decision into a public political statement.
A broadside is not the same as the engrossed parchment copy. The engrossed copy is the carefully prepared document later signed by delegates and preserved at the National Archives. Dunlap’s copies were printed quickly for circulation, and fewer than 30 surviving examples are known today.