John Dunlap printed the first broadside editions of the Declaration of Independence for circulation in 1776.
Dunlap was a Philadelphia printer who produced approximately 200 copies of the document soon after Congress adopted it. These sheets are known as the Dunlap broadsides. They were sent to political leaders, military commanders, colonial governments, and other destinations so the news of independence could spread quickly.
The broadsides were not the same as the later engrossed parchment copy that carries the famous signatures. The earliest printed versions included the names of John Hancock and Charles Thomson as printed officials, rather than the full set of handwritten signatures.
Mary Katharine Goddard is associated with a later 1777 broadside that listed the signers’ names. Benjamin Franklin was a printer and a signer, but he did not produce the first broadside edition. Charles Thomson served as congressional secretary and helped authenticate the publication, but John Dunlap did the printing.