Publishing and Publicizing the Declaration of Independence Dunlap Broadsides

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July 5 1776
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Dunlap Broadsides

In the late afternoon of July 4, 1776, a copy of the document was taken to the nearby print shop of John Dunlap, the official printer for Congress. The copies he printed are now called Dunlap Broadsides. Over the following days, John Hancock distributed these to state assemblies, committees of safety, and military commanders, with the request that it be proclaimed "in such a Mode, as that the People may be universally informed of it."

This text would have been read in Williamsburg on July 25.

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