
National Archives and Records Administration
On July 19, the Congress ordered the Declaration to be fairly engrossed (formally handwritten) on parchment and the title changed from A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled to The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America. Timothy Matlack, assistant to Charles Thomson, engrossed the document. On August 2, 1776, most of the members of the Continental Congress assembled in Independence Hall and “the declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed.”
The Extant (Existing) Documents
The engrossed copy is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.