The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence occurred primarily on August 2, 1776, at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, later to become known as Independence Hall. The 56 delegates to the

Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...

represented the 13 colonies, 12 of which voted to approve the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The New York delegation abstained because they had not yet received instructions from Albany to vote for independence. The Declaration proclaimed the signatory colonies were now "free and independent States," no longer colonies of the Kingdom of Great Britain and, thus, no longer a part of the British Empire. The signers’ names are grouped by state, with the exception of John Hancock, as President of the Continental Congress; the states are arranged geographically from south to north, with Button Gwinnett from Georgia first, and

Matthew Thornton Matthew Thornton (March 3, 1714 – June 24, 1803) was an Irish-born Founding Father of the United States who signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New Hampshire. Background and early life Thornton was ...

from New Hampshire last. The final draft of the Declaration was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, although the date of its signing has long been disputed. Most historians have concluded that it was signed on August 2, 1776, nearly a month after its adoption, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed.

Date of signing

Signing of Declaration of Independence by Armand-Dumaresq, c1873

The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, with 12 of the 13 colonies voting in favor and New York abstaining. The date that the Declaration was signed has long been the subject of debate. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams all wrote that it was signed by Congress on the day when it was adopted on July 4, 1776. That assertion is seemingly confirmed by the signed copy of the Declaration, which is dated July 4. Additional support for the July 4 date is provided by the

Journals of the Continental Congress The Journals of the Continental Congress are official records from the first three representative bodies of the original United Colonies and ultimately the United States of America. The First Continental Congress was formed and met on September 5 t ...

, the official public record of the Continental Congress. The proceedings for 1776 were first published in 1777, and the entry for July 4 states that the Declaration was engrossed and signed on that date (the official copy was handwritten). In 1796, signer Thomas McKean disputed that the Declaration had been signed on July 4, pointing out that some signers were not present, including several who were not even elected to Congress until after that date. "No person signed it on that day nor for many days after", he wrote. His claim gained support when the ''Secret Journals of Congress'' were published in 1821. The ''Secret Journals'' contained two previously unpublished entries about the Declaration. On July 15, New York's delegates got permission from their convention to agree to the Declaration. The ''Secret Journals'' entry for July 19 reads: The entry for August 2 states: In 1884, historian

Mellen Chamberlain Mellen Chamberlain (4 June 1821, Pembroke, New Hampshire - 25 June 1900, Chelsea, Massachusetts) was a United States lawyer, librarian and historian. He was librarian of the Boston Public Library for over a decade. Biography He graduated fro ...

argued that these entries indicated that the famous signed version of the Declaration had been created following the July 19 resolution, and had not been signed by Congress until August 2. Subsequent research has confirmed that many of the signers had not been present in Congress on July 4, and that some delegates may have added their signatures even after August 2. Neither Jefferson nor Adams ever wavered from their belief that the signing ceremony took place on July 4, yet most historians have accepted the argument which David McCullough articulates in his biography of John Adams: "No such scene, with all the delegates present, ever occurred at Philadelphia." Syng inkstand

Legal historian Wilfred Ritz concluded in 1986 that about 34 delegates signed the Declaration on July 4, and that the others signed on or after August 2. Ritz argues that the engrossed copy of the Declaration was signed by Congress on July 4, as Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin had stated, and that it was implausible that all three men had been mistaken. He believes that McKean's testimony was questionable, and that historians had misinterpreted the July 19 resolution. According to Ritz, this resolution did not call for a new document to be created, but rather for the existing one to be given a new title, which was necessary after New York had joined the other 12 states in declaring independence. He reasons that the phrase "signed by every member of Congress" in the July 19 resolution meant that delegates who had not signed the Declaration on the 4th were now required to do so. In an 1811 letter to Adams, Benjamin Rush recounted the signing in stark fashion, describing it as a scene of "pensive and awful silence". Rush said the delegates were called up, one after another, and then filed forward somberly to subscribe what each thought was their ensuing death warrant. He related that the "gloom of the morning" was briefly interrupted when the rotund Benjamin Harrison of Virginia said to a diminutive

Elbridge Gerry Elbridge Gerry (; July 17, 1744 – November 23, 1814) was an American Founding Father, merchant, politician, and diplomat who served as the fifth vice president of the United States under President James Madison from 1813 until his death in 18 ...

of Massachusetts, at the signing table, "I shall have a great advantage over you, Mr. Gerry, when we are all hung for what we are now doing. From the size and weight of my body I shall die in a few minutes and be with the Angels, but from the lightness of your body you will dance in the air an hour or two before you are dead." According to Rush, Harrison’s remark "procured a transient smile, but it was soon succeeded by the Solemnity with which the whole business was conducted.”

List of signers

Fifty-six delegates eventually signed the Declaration of Independence: President of Congress :1. John Hancock (Massachusetts Bay) New Hampshire :2. Josiah Bartlett :3.

William Whipple William Whipple Jr. (January 25, 1731 NS Old_Style.html"_;"title="anuary_14,_1730_Old_Style">OS/nowiki>_–_November_28,_1785)_was_an_American_Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States.html" "title="Old_Style">OS.html" ;"title="Old_Style.ht ...

:4.

Massachusetts Bay :5. Samuel Adams :6. John Adams :7. Robert Treat Paine :8.

Rhode Island and Providence Plantations :9. Stephen Hopkins :10. William Ellery Connecticut :11. Roger Sherman :12. Samuel Huntington :13. William Williams :14. Oliver Wolcott

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

:15. William Floyd :16. Philip Livingston :17.

Francis Lewis Francis Lewis (March 21, 1713 – December 31, 1802) was an American merchant and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation as a representative of ...

:18.

Lewis Morris Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continen ...

New Jersey :19. Richard Stockton :20. John Witherspoon :21.

Francis Hopkinson Francis Hopkinson (October 2,Hopkinson was born on September 21, 1737, according to the then-used Julian calendar (old style). In 1752, however, Great Britain and all its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar (new style) which moved Hopkinson's ...

:22. John Hart :23. Abraham Clark Pennsylvania :24. Robert Morris :25. Benjamin Rush :26. Benjamin Franklin :27. John Morton :28. George Clymer :29. James Smith :30. George Taylor :31. James Wilson :32. George Ross Delaware :33. Caesar Rodney :34.

George Read George Read may refer to: * George Reade (colonial governor) (1608–1671), politician, judge, and Acting Governor of Virginia Colony * George Read (American politician, born 1733) (1733–1798), lawyer, signer of Declaration of Independence and U ...

:35. Thomas McKean Maryland :36. Samuel Chase :37. William Paca :38. Thomas Stone :39. Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia :40. George Wythe :41. Richard Henry Lee :42. Thomas Jefferson :43. Benjamin Harrison :44.

Thomas Nelson, Jr. Thomas Nelson Jr. (December 26, 1738 – January 4, 1789) was an American Founding Father, soldier and statesman from Yorktown, Virginia. In addition to serving in the Virginia General Assembly for many terms, he twice represented Virginia in t ...

:45.

Francis Lightfoot Lee Francis Lightfoot Lee (October 14, 1734 – January 11, 1797) was a Founding Father of the United States and a member of the House of Burgesses in the Colony of Virginia. As an active protester regarding issues such as the Stamp Act of 1765, L ...

:46.

Carter Braxton Carter Braxton (September 10, 1736October 10, 1797) was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, a merchant, planter, a Founding Father of the United States and a Virginia politician. A grandson of Robert "King" Carter, one of ...

North Carolina :47.

William Hooper William Hooper (June 28, 1742 October 14, 1790) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, and politician. As a member of the Continental Congress representing North Carolina, Hooper signed the Continental Association and the Declaration of I ...

:48.

Joseph Hewes Joseph Hewes (July 9, 1730– November 10, 1779) was an American Founding Father, a signer of the Continental Association and U.S. Declaration of Independence, and a native of Princeton, New Jersey, where he was born in 1730. Hewes's parents were ...

:49. John Penn South Carolina :50.

Edward Rutledge Edward Rutledge (November 23, 1749 – January 23, 1800) was an American Founding Father and politician who signed the Continental Association and was the youngest signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He later served as the 39th gover ...

:51.

Thomas Heyward, Jr. Thomas Heyward Jr. (July 28, 1746 – March 6, 1809) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father, lawyer, jurist, and politician. Heyward was active politically during the American Revolution, Revolutionary Era. As a m ...

:52.

Thomas Lynch, Jr. Thomas Lynch Jr. (August 5, 1749 – December 17, 1779) was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of South Carolina and a Founding Father of the United States. His father was a member of the Continental ...

:53.

Arthur Middleton Arthur Middleton (June 26, 1742 – January 1, 1787) was a Founding Father of the United States as a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, representing South Carolina in the Second Continental Congress. Life Middleton was bo ...

Georgia :54. Button Gwinnett :55. Lyman Hall :56.

George Walton George Walton (c. 1749 – February 2, 1804), a Founding Father of the United States, signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Georgia and also served as the second chief executive of Georgia. Early life Wal ...

Signer details

Eight delegates never signed the Declaration, out of about 50 who are thought to have been present in Congress during the voting on independence in early July 1776:

John Alsop John Alsop Jr. (1724 – November 22, 1794) was an American merchant and politician from New York City. As a delegate for New York to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776, he signed the 1774 Continental Association. Early life Alsop was ...

, George Clinton, John Dickinson, Charles Humphreys, Robert R. Livingston, John Rogers, Thomas Willing, and Henry Wisner. Clinton, Livingston, and Wisner were attending to duties away from Congress when the signing took place. Willing and Humphreys voted against the resolution of independence and were replaced in the Pennsylvania delegation before the August 2 signing. Rogers had voted for the resolution of independence but was no longer a delegate on August 2. Alsop favored reconciliation with Great Britain and so resigned rather than add his name to the document. Dickinson refused to sign, believing the Declaration premature, but he remained in Congress.

had voted against the resolution of independence, and Robert Morris had abstained—yet they both signed the Declaration. The most famous signature on the engrossed copy is that of John Hancock, who presumably signed first as President of Congress. Hancock's large, flamboyant signature became iconic, and ''John Hancock'' emerged in the United States as an informal synonym for "signature". Future presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were among the signatories.

(age 26) was the youngest signer and Benjamin Franklin (age 70) the oldest. JohnHancockSignature

Some delegates were away on business when the Declaration was debated, including

and Samuel Chase, but they were back in Congress to sign on August 2. Other delegates were present when the Declaration was debated but added their names after August 2, including

, Oliver Wolcott, Thomas McKean, and possibly

. Richard Henry Lee and George Wythe were in Virginia during July and August, but returned to Congress and signed the Declaration probably in September and October, respectively. New delegates joining the Congress were also allowed to sign. Eight men signed the Declaration who did not take seats in Congress until after July 4:

, William Williams, Benjamin Rush, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, George Ross, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Matthew Thornton did not take a seat in Congress until November. By the time that he signed it, there wasn't any space for his name next to the other New Hampshire delegates, so he placed his signature at the end of the document. The first published version of the Declaration was the

Dunlap broadside The physical history of the United States Declaration of Independence spans from its original drafting in 1776 into the discovery of historical documents in modern time. This includes a number of drafts, handwritten copies, and published broadsid ...

. The only names on that version were Congress President John Hancock and Secretary Charles Thomson, and those names were printed rather than signatures. The public did not learn who had signed the engrossed copy until January 18, 1777, when the Congress ordered that an "authenticated copy" be sent to each of the 13 states, including the names of the signers. This copy is called the

Goddard Broadside The physical history of the United States Declaration of Independence spans from its original drafting in 1776 into the discovery of historical documents in modern time. This includes a number of drafts, handwritten copies, and published broadsid ...

; it was the first to list all the signers except for Thomas McKean, who may not have signed the Declaration until after the Goddard Broadside was published. Congress Secretary Charles Thomson did not sign the engrossed copy of the Declaration, and his name doesn't appear on the Goddard Broadside, even though it does appear on the Dunlap broadside.

Legacy

Declaration of Independence, 24c, 1869 issue

Various legends emerged years later concerning the signing of the Declaration, when the document had become an important national symbol. In one famous story, John Hancock supposedly said that Congress, having signed the Declaration, must now "all hang together", and Benjamin Franklin replied: "Yes, we must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." The earliest known version of that quotation in print appeared in a London humor magazine in 1837.

References

Citations

Sources

* Boyd, Julian P., ed. ''The Papers of Thomas Jefferson'', vol. 1. Princeton University Press, 1950. *Boyd, Julian P
"The Declaration of Independence: The Mystery of the Lost Original"
''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 100, number 4 (October 1976), 438–67. *Burnett, Edward Cody. ''The Continental Congress''. New York: Norton, 1941. * Friedenwald, Herbert. ''The Declaration of Independence: An Interpretation and an Analysis.'' New York: Macmillan, 1904. Accessed via th
Internet Archive
*Hazelton, John H. ''The Declaration of Independence: Its History.'' Originally published 1906. New York: Da Capo Press, 1970. . 1906 printing available o
Google Book Search
* Maier, Pauline. ''American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence.'' New York: Knopf, 1997. . * Malone, Dumas. ''The Story of the Declaration of Independence''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1975. A picture book with text by a leading Jefferson scholar. *Ritz, Wilfred J. "The Authentication of the Engrossed Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776". ''Law and History Review'' 4, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 179–204. *United States Continental Congress.
Secret journals of the acts and proceedings of Congress, from the first meeting thereof to the dissolution of the Confederation
', vol. 1, p. 46. Boston: Thomas B. Wait, 1820. *Warren, Charles. "Fourth of July Myths." ''The William and Mary Quarterly'', Third Series, vol. 2, no. 3 (July 1945): 238–72. * Wills, Garry. ''Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence''. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1978. . {{Portal bar, Politics, United States United States Declaration of Independence Documents of the American Revolution 1776 in the United States 1776 in the British Empire