07/04/2026
Happy Independence Day! After the vote for independence passed on July 2, 1776, the drafting committee for the Declaration of Independence presented their document to the Continental Congress. In the following sessions and debates, the Congress made significant changes and removed almost a fourth of the text. Thomas Jefferson - the primary author - was not thrilled with the changes. Finally, on July 4, 1776, the final draft was approved and signed by John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress.
That night, Philadelphia printer John Dunlap produced about 200 broadsides that were distributed across the new states. Formal public readings of the Declaration were held in several locations on July 8. On July 19, Congress passed a resolution calling for a parchment copy to be written out and then signed by the delegates. That engrossed copy – probably written by clerk Timothy Matlack – was presented on August 2, 1776 and eventually signed by 56 men representing the 13 states. The same inkstand used by the signers of the Declaration was later used by the signers of the United States Constitution.
The signed document - our nation's birth certificate - remains on display at the National Archives here in Washington, D.C. A section of the Declaration is written on the walls inside the Jefferson Memorial.
On this 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we remember the founders of our nation and all those people throughout our country's distinguished history who have preserved and expanded the rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Photo by National Park Service.
