Title: United States Declaration of Independence
Content:  signed on August 2, and that those eventual signers who were not present added their names later. Two future U.S. presidents were among the signatories: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The most famous signature on the engrossed copy is that of John Hancock, who presumably signed first as President of Congress. Hancock's large, flamboyant signature became iconic, and the term John Hancock emerged in the United States as an informal synonym for "signature". A commonly circulated but apocryphal account claims that, after Hancock signed, the delegate from Massachusetts commented, "The British ministry can read that name without spectacles." Another apocryphal report indicates that Hancock proudly declared, 
Title: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence
Content: 1. John Hancock (Massachusetts Bay) 2. Josiah Bartlett ; 3. William Whipple ; 4. Matthew Thornton 5. Samuel Adams ; 6. John Adams ; 7. Robert Treat Paine ; 8. Elbridge Gerry 9. Stephen Hopkins ; 10. William Ellery 11. Roger Sherman ; 12. Samuel Huntington ; 13. William Williams ; 14. Oliver Wolcott 15. William Floyd ; 16. Philip Livingston ; 17. Francis Lewis ; 18. Lewis Morris 19. Richard Stockton ; 20. John Witherspoon ; 21. Francis Hopkinson ; 22. John Hart ; 23. Abraham Clark 24. Robert Morris ; 25. Benjamin Rush ; 26. Benjamin Franklin ; 27. John Morton ; 28. George Clymer ; 29. James Smith ; 30. George Taylor ; 31. James Wilson ; 32. George Ross 33. Caesar Rodney ; 
Title: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence
Content:  The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence occurred primarily on August 2, 1776, at the Pennsylvania State House, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress represented the 13 colonies, 12 of which voted to approve the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The New York delegation abstained because they had not yet received instructions from Albany to vote for independence. The Declaration proclaimed the signatory colonies were now "free and independent States," no longer colonies of the Kingdom of Great Britain and, thus, no longer a part of the British Empire. The signers’ names are grouped by state, with the exception of John Hancock, as President of the Continental Congress; the states are arranged geographically from south to north, with Button Gwinnett from Georgia first, and Matthew Thornton from New Hampshire last. The final draft of the Declaration was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, although the date of its signing has long been disputed. Most historians have concluded that it was signed on August 2, 1776, nearly a month after its adoption, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed.
Title: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence
Content:  Britain and so resigned rather than add his name to the document. Dickinson refused to sign, believing the Declaration premature, but he remained in Congress. George Read had voted against the resolution of independence, and Robert Morris had abstained—yet they both signed the Declaration. The most famous signature on the engrossed copy is that of John Hancock, who presumably signed first as President of Congress. Hancock's large, flamboyant signature became iconic, and John Hancock emerged in the United States as an informal synonym for "signature". Future presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were among the signatories. Edward Rutledge (age 26) was the youngest signer 
Title: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence
Content:  George Read ; 35. Thomas McKean 36. Samuel Chase ; 37. William Paca ; 38. Thomas Stone ; 39. Charles Carroll of Carrollton 40. George Wythe ; 41. Richard Henry Lee ; 42. Thomas Jefferson ; 43. Benjamin Harrison ; 44. Thomas Nelson, Jr. ; 45. Francis Lightfoot Lee ; 46. Carter Braxton 47. William Hooper ; 48. Joseph Hewes ; 49. John Penn 50. Edward Rutledge ; 51. Thomas Heyward, Jr. ; 52. Thomas Lynch, Jr. ; 53. Arthur Middleton 54. Button Gwinnett ; 55. Lyman Hall ; 56. George Walton Fifty-six delegates eventually signed the Declaration of Independence: President of Congress New Hampshire Massachusetts Bay Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware Maryland Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia
Title: United States Declaration of Independence
Content:  several who were not even elected to Congress until after that date. The Declaration was transposed on paper, adopted by the Continental Congress, and signed by John Hancock, President of the Congress, on July 4, 1776, according to the 1911 record of events by the U.S. State Department under Secretary Philander C. Knox. On August 2, 1776, a parchment paper copy of the Declaration was signed by 56 persons. Many of these signers were not present when the original Declaration was adopted on July 4. Signer Matthew Thornton from New Hampshire was seated in the Continental Congress in November; he asked for and received the privilege 
Title: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence
Content:  Benjamin Franklin (age 70) the oldest.  Some delegates were away on business when the Declaration was debated, including William Hooper and Samuel Chase, but they were back in Congress to sign on August 2. Other delegates were present when the Declaration was debated but added their names after August 2, including Lewis Morris, Oliver Wolcott, Thomas McKean, and possibly Elbridge Gerry. Richard Henry Lee and George Wythe were in Virginia during July and August, but returned to Congress and signed the Declaration probably in September and October, respectively. New delegates joining the Congress were also allowed to sign. Eight men signed the Declaration who 
Title: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence
Content:  not take seats in Congress until after July 4: Matthew Thornton, William Williams, Benjamin Rush, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, George Ross, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Matthew Thornton did not take a seat in Congress until November. By the time that he signed it, there wasn't any space for his name next to the other New Hampshire delegates, so he placed his signature at the end of the document. The first published version of the Declaration was the Dunlap broadside. The only names on that version were Congress President John Hancock and Secretary Charles Thomson, and those names were printed rather 
Title: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence
Content:  The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, with 12 of the 13 colonies voting in favor and New York abstaining. The date that the Declaration was signed has long been the subject of debate. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams all wrote that it was signed by Congress on the day when it was adopted on July 4, 1776. That assertion is seemingly confirmed by the signed copy of the Declaration, which is dated July 4. Additional support for the July 4 date is provided by the Journals of Congress, the official public record of the Continental Congress. The proceedings for 1776 were first published in 
Title: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence
Content:  Eight delegates never signed the Declaration, out of about 50 who are thought to have been present in Congress during the voting on independence in early July 1776: John Alsop, George Clinton, John Dickinson, Charles Humphreys, Robert R. Livingston, John Rogers, Thomas Willing, and Henry Wisner. Clinton, Livingston, and Wisner were attending to duties away from Congress when the signing took place. Willing and Humphreys voted against the resolution of independence and were replaced in the Pennsylvania delegation before the August 2 signing. Rogers had voted for the resolution of independence but was no longer a delegate on August 2. Alsop favored reconciliation with 

Question: who signed the largest on the declaration of independence?
Answer: John Hancock.