John Dunlap printed the first broadside editions of the United States Declaration of Independence.
Dunlap was a Philadelphia printer who served as the official printer for the Second Continental Congress. After Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776, he worked through the night to produce printed copies for distribution. These single-sheet prints are known as the Dunlap broadsides.
About 200 copies were believed to have been printed, although only 26 surviving copies are known today. The broadsides carried the names of John Hancock, president of Congress, and Charles Thomson, secretary of Congress, in type rather than the handwritten signatures later seen on the engrossed parchment.
Dunlap’s work helped spread the Declaration rapidly to state governments, military commanders, and the public. He is sometimes confused with Timothy Matlack, the clerk generally credited with handwriting the engrossed parchment copy, or with Charles Thomson, who served as Congress’s secretary.