Most delegates to the Second Continental Congress formally signed the Declaration of Independence.
Yes, it had already been approved a month prior.
Oddly enough, that was not widely known at the time. In fact, the common belief at the time was that it had been signed on July 4. The story behind that was actually somewhat obscured intentionally.
New York had abstained on July 4, so only the delegates of 12 out of the 14 (there were 14 British colonies in North America, not 13) signed it. Of the 13 with representation in the Continental Congress, Quebec was not represented as it had chosen not to participate, New York abstained. New York's delegates were granted permission from their convention to agree to the Declaration on July 9. T hat news reached Congress on July 15. The Secret Journals entry for July 19 reads:
Resolved That the Declaration passed on the 4th be fairly engrossed on parchment with the title and stile of "The unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states of America" & that the same when engrossed be signed by every member of Congress."
Hmmm. . .
On August 2, those journals read:
The declaration of Independence being engrossed & compared at the table was signed by the Members.
The signers were:
President of Congress
1. John Hancock (Massachusetts Bay)
New Hampshire
2. Josiah Bartlett
3. William Whipple
4. Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts Bay
5. Samuel Adams
6. John Adams
7. Robert Treat Paine
8. Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
9. Stephen Hopkins
10. William Ellery
Connecticut
11. Roger Sherman
12. Samuel Huntington
13. William Williams
14. Oliver Wolcott
New York
15. William Floyd
16. Philip Livingston
17. Francis Lewis
18. Lewis Morris
New Jersey
19. Richard Stockton
20. John Witherspoon
21. Francis Hopkinson
22. John Hart
23. Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania
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
Delaware
33. Caesar Rodney
34. George Read
35. Thomas McKean
Maryland
36. Samuel Chase
37. William Paca
38. Thomas Stone
39. Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia
40. George Wythe
41. Richard Henry Lee
42. Thomas Jefferson
43. Benjamin Harrison
44. Thomas Nelson, Jr.
45. Francis Lightfoot Lee
46. Carter Braxton
North Carolina
47. William Hooper
48. Joseph Hewes
49. John Penn
South Carolina
50. Edward Rutledge
51. Thomas Heyward, Jr.
52. Thomas Lynch, Jr.
53. Arthur Middleton
Georgia
54. Button Gwinnett
55. Lyman Hall
56. George Walton
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