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Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, receives Richard Henry Lee's resolution urging Congress to declare independence. US History.org
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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.
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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
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A fair copy of the committee draft of the Declaration of Independence is read in Congress.
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Congress debates and revises the Declaration of Independence.
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Congress declares independence as the British fleet and army arrive at New York.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Pennsylvania Evening Post of July 6 prints the first newspaper rendition of the Declaration of Independence.
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The first public reading of the Declaration is in Philadelphia.
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Washington orders that the Declaration of Independence be read before the American army in New York
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Congress orders the Declaration of Independence engrossed (officially inscribed) and signed by members.
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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.
