Adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence
- When
- 1776
- Where
- Philadelphia, seat of the Second Continental Congress; Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall); Philadelphia, one of three simultaneous reading sites
- Episodes
- 3
In Philadelphia from July 2 to July 8, 1776, the Second Continental Congress passed the Lee Resolution declaring the colonies free and independent states, adopted the Declaration of Independence two days later, and saw the document read publicly at noon on July 8.
Episodes
- Passage of the Lee Resolution
On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress passed the Lee Resolution, asserting the colonies were free and independent states.
- Adoption of the Declaration of Independence
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia.
- First Public Readings of the Declaration
On July 8, 1776, at noon, the Declaration was read publicly at three designated locations: Trenton, Easton, and Philadelphia.
Background and detail
Background. When the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, few colonists openly advocated independence, and most still hoped for reconciliation with Great Britain even after Lexington and Concord. Public support for independence strengthened considerably in early 1776, aided by Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, published in Philadelphia in January 1776.
Drafting the Declaration. On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed the Committee of Five—including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson—to draft a declaration. Jefferson largely wrote the document in isolation between June 11 and June 28, 1776, from the second floor of a rented home at 700 Market Street in Philadelphia. The committee presented the draft to Congress on June 28.
Textual Versions and Later Engrossment. The final wording was approved on July 4 and sent to the printer; the official copy was the one printed that day under Jefferson's supervision. On July 19, Congress resolved that the Declaration be fairly engrossed on parchment with the title 'The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America' and signed by every member; the engrossed copy, handwritten by Timothy Matlack, was signed primarily on August 2, 1776.
People involved
- Second Continental Congress · Body that passed the Lee Resolution and adopted the Declaration
- Thomas Jefferson · Principal drafter of the Declaration; supervised the July 4 printing
- John Adams · Member of the Committee of Five appointed June 11, 1776
- Benjamin Franklin · Member of the Committee of Five appointed June 11, 1776
- Timothy Matlack · Engrosser of the parchment copy signed primarily on August 2, 1776
Sources
- Lee Resolution Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-31
- United States Declaration of Independence Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-25
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.