| 1776 |
| June 7 |
Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, receives
Richard Henry Lee's resolution urging Congress to declare
independence. |
| June 11 |
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin,
Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston appointed to a committee
to draft a declaration of independence. American army retreats to
Lake Champlain from Canada. |
| June 12-27 |
Jefferson, at the request of the committee,
drafts a declaration, of which only a fragment exists. Jefferson's
clean, or "fair" copy, the "original Rough draught," is reviewed
by the committee. Both documents are in the manuscript collections
of the Library of Congress. |
| June 28 |
A fair copy of the committee draft of the
Declaration of Independence is read in Congress. |
| July 1-4 |
Congress debates and revises the Declaration of
Independence. |
| July 2 |
Congress declares independence as the British
fleet and army arrive at New York. |
| July 4 |
Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence
in the morning of a bright, sunny, but cool Philadelphia day. John
Dunlap prints the Declaration of Independence. These prints are
now called "Dunlap Broadsides." Twenty-four copies are known to
exist, two of which are in the Library of Congress. One of these
was Washington's personal copy. |
| July 5 |
John Hancock, president of the Continental
Congress, dispatches the first of Dunlap's broadsides of the
Declaration of Independence to the legislatures of New Jersey and
Delaware. |
| July 6 |
Pennsylvania Evening Post of July 6 prints the
first newspaper rendition of the Declaration of Independence. |
| July 8 |
The first public reading of the Declaration is
in Philadelphia. |
| July 9 |
Washington orders that the Declaration of
Independence be read before the American army in New York |
| July 19 |
Congress orders the Declaration of Independence
engrossed (officially inscribed) and signed by members. |
| August 2 |
Delegates begin to sign engrossed copy of the
Declaration of Independence. A large British reinforcement arrives
at New York after being repelled at Charleston, S.C. |
| 1777 |
| January 18 |
Congress, now sitting in Baltimore, Maryland,
orders that signed copies of the Declaration of Independence
printed by Mary Katherine Goddard of Baltimore be sent to the
states. |