New Orleans Business Daily

How many copies of the Declaration of independence were made?

Every so often you hear about someone who found one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence.How many copies are out there? Where is the rough draft, with all the edits? Is the one in National Archives THE original that all the founding fathers signed on July 4 1776? Aug 2??? Then why do all the history books say it was signed on July 4 1776?

Public Comments

1. The most famous version of the Declaration, a signed copy that is usually regarded as the Declaration of Independence, is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. According to most historians, Congress signed this document on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4, as is often believed. After Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration on July 4, a handwritten copy was sent a few blocks away to the printing shop of John Dunlap. Through the night between 150 and 200 copies were made, now known as "Dunlap broadsides". Before long, the Declaration was read to audiences and reprinted in newspapers across the thirteen states. The first official public reading of the document was by John Nixon in the yard of Independence Hall on July 8; public readings also took place on that day in Trenton, New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania. A German translation of the Declaration was published in Philadelphia by July 9.