The first known reprint of the Declaration occurred in the Philadelphia Evening Post on July 6. The final version was called a “unanimous” declaration. But the word “unanimous” could not be properly used until July 19th, when the New York delegation to Congress, which had not voted on July 4th, reported that it favored the Declaration. Congress then ordered a copy of the Declaration engrossed on parchment and signed by all members of Congress.Fifty members of Congress signed the engrossed copy of the Declaration on August 2, 1776. Learn more about each one of the Signers or their wives by clicking on any of the states on the below, or by browsing the archive on the right.
Go directly to: Connecticut | Delaware | Georgia | Maryland | Massachusetts | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New York | North Carolina | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | Virginia
Official Prayer of the DSDI Biography Project
Thorny Lockwood, co-chairman of the DSDI Biography
Project, says he is pleased to make available to the DSDI membership the Official Prayer of the Biography Project, as recited frequently by our many volunteer authors.
A signer’s biography is my duty, I shall not dawdle,
It maketh me to lie down and examine tombstones,
It leadeth me into still courthouses,
It restoreth my knowledge of the signer.
It leadeth me in the paths of census records and ships’ passenger lists for the signer’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the shadows of research libraries and open books,
I shall fear no discouragement, for a patriotic urge is within me.
The curiosity and motivation, they comforteth me,
It demandeth preparation of storage space for countless documents.
It anointest my head with burning midnight oil,
My stack of signer information sheets runneth over.
Surely the signer’s life, patriotism, birth, marriage, and death dates shall follow me all the
days of my life,
And I shall dwell on the DSDI website with all of the other DSDI biographers, forever.
From Spirit Fall 2012
