Publishing and Publicizing the Declaration of Independence Official Document
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- August 2 1776
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Official Document
The Continental Congress approved and adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It was immediately authenticated and printed, it was not until fifteen days later that it was ordered to be engrossed on parchment. The significance of this motion affirmed the legality of the act – to engross is to express in legal form – and parchment was used exclusively for formal documents. On August 2, the members present in Congress signed the document.