In January 1777, Baltimore printer Mary Katharine Goddard published the first copies of the Declaration of Independence that included the signers’ names. By then, the document was already old news.

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted unanimously to declare independence from Great Britain.

Part of a series of occasional features marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It has been almost 250 years since John Dunlap’s Philadelphia print shop pulled an all-nighter ...

On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted a document introducing a new nation to the world, composed of 13 “free and independent states.” This Declaration of Independence, read to crowds ...

The Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary in 2026 is certain to be a time of national reflection. Americans tend to look to the Constitution to assess whether the nation is living up to its ...

The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. We now credit Thomas Jefferson with the Declaration’s authorship, but that was not the case on that momentous ...