John Nixon gave the first public reading of the United States Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776.
The reading took place at noon in the yard of the Pennsylvania State House, the building now known as Independence Hall. Nixon was a Philadelphia official and militia officer who read the text aloud to a public gathering. The reading helped turn a congressional document into a public announcement of independence.
The first formal public readings occurred simultaneously in Philadelphia, Trenton, New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania. This detail is often confused with the Declaration’s first printing, which occurred earlier, or with George Washington’s reading to troops in New York City on July 9.