Declaration of Independence Timeline
June 7, 1776 Richard Henry Lee of VA puts forth the resolution for independence.
June 10, 1776 Consideration of the resolution is postponed till July 1 (so moderates could build a coalition)
June 11, 1776 Revolutionaries persuade Congress to appoint a committee to draft a declaration of independence. The committee consisted of John Adams (MA), Benjamin Franklin (PA), Thomas Jefferson (VA), Roger Sherman (CT), and Robert R. Livingston (NY). Jefferson takes the lead on the project. Adams and Franklin make a few edits. Jefferson’s rough draft is in the Library of Congress.
July 1, 1776 Vote on the resolution for independence. Nine colonies vote for it, 2 against it (PA and SC), 1 abstained (NY), and one was deadlocked (DE). Vote to be retaken the next day.
July 2, 1776 12 of the 13 colonies vote for the resolution, with NY abstaining. Congress declares the resolution to be in effect.
July 2-4, 1776 Congress debates the content of the Declaration of Independence.
July 4, 1776 Congress approves the Declaration of Independence and orders it printed. Philadelphia printer John Dunlap prints about 200 copies. Fewer than 30 survive today.
July 6, 1777 The Declaration of Independence appears in the Pennsylvania Evening Post, the first newspaper printing of the newly adopted document.
July 8, 1776 Colonel John Nixon reads the Declaration of Independence to a crowd on the State House Yard (now known as Independence Square). This is the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
July 19, 1776 Congress orders the Declaration engrossed for signatures. Title is changed from “A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress Assembled” to “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America.”
August 2, 1776 Declaration signed by (most likely) 50 of the 56 signers. Five more sign later in 1776. Thomas McKean, the 56th signer, signs sometime after January 1777. There is only one handwritten, signed Declaration of Independence. It is on display in the National Archives in Washington D.C.
January 18, 1777 Congress authorizes the printing of the Declaration with the names of the signers (first time names of signers are printed.
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Jefferson suffered through Congress remaking his work. His draft at 1704 words was 366 words longer than the final. The Congress added 253 words, and removed or rephrased 792 words, thereby transforming over 60% of his work. Among passages removed was a 168 word section complaining the mercantile system, imposed on the colonies by commercial charter, mandated the importation of slaves to the New World. His draft is on the internet. One congressman lamented with him that it was like seeing the goose after Christmas dinner.
Back then it took a long time to sign anything...it still does... 😀