How many people signed the Declration of Independence on July 4th?

Question

I have heard that only John Hancock signed the DOI on July 4th and everybody else signed it later. Is that true.

Answer 1

No one signed it on the Fourth.

The vote to approve the independence was taken on July 2 and passed. (John Adams wrote to his wife Abigal, that July 2 would be a day of great celebrations throughout our history.)
and on July 4 the DoI was adopted (that is the reason we celebrate our Independence on the 4th). The first public reading of the document was made on July 8.

In order for the document to be sent to England it had to be sent to the printer John Dunlap so copies (24 copies of these "Dunlap Broadsides" are known to exist) could be made and "official" copies signed. On July 19 Congress orders that the Declaration be engrossed (offically inscribed), but it wasn't until August 2 that delegates began to sign the documents.

John Hancock was the first to sign, saying that he made such a large signature so that King George III would be able to read it with out his glasses (an unfounded story), doing so on a completely blank area taht allowed for a large signing. Most followed the same day, but several delegates were not present at the time and signed at later dates. Some had to wait until the end of the war to affix their signatures

By the way George Washington never sined it since he was not part of the Congress.

Answer 2

I don't think so. Here are the signers in order:
1 George Washington Virginia
2 George Read Delaware
3 Gunning Bedford, Jr. Delaware
4 John Dickinson³ Delaware
5 Richard Bassett Delaware
6 Jacob Broom Delaware
7 James McHenry Maryland
8 Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer Maryland
9 Daniel Carroll³ Maryland
10 John Blair Virginia
11 James Madison Jr. Virginia
12 William Blount North Carolina
13 Richard Dobbs Spaight North Carolina
14 Hugh Williamson North Carolina
15 John Rutledge South Carolina
16 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney South Carolina
17 Charles Pinckney South Carolina
18 Pierce Butler South Carolina
19 William Few Georgia
20 Abraham Baldwin Georgia
21 John Langdon New Hampshire
22 Nicholas Gilman New Hampshire
23 Nathaniel Gorham Massachusetts
24 Rufus King Massachusetts
25 William Samuel Johnson Connecticut
26 Roger Sherman¹ Connecticut
27 Alexander Hamilton New York
28 William Livingston New Jersey
29 David Brearley New Jersey
30 William Paterson New Jersey
31 Jonathan Dayton New Jersey
32 Benjamin Franklin Pennsylvania
33 Thomas Mifflin Pennsylvania
34 Robert Morris² Pennsylvania
35 George Clymer Pennsylvania
36 Thomas Fitzsimons Pennsylvania
37 Jared Ingersoll Pennsylvania
38 James Wilson Pennsylvania
39 Gouverneur Morris Pennsylvania


39 out of 55 Delegates of the Philadelphia Convention.
Notice any big names missing? It was a bad day to be out of town.....!

Answer 3

Some sites say that the Declaration was signed on July 4, but Wikipedia says that only Hancock signed on that day and other delegates signed later. I'm inclined to go with Wiki on this; I vaguely remember having heard something similar when I read the history.

Answer 4

I believe that he was the Last to Sign it. He waited until All of the others to Sign it and Seal it and then Sent it.

Answer 5

56 signed it.

"A total of 56 delegates eventually signed (see Category:Signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence)."

Answer 6

Yes. I forget the reason, but that's what happened.