The Continental Congress actually adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776, but didn’t officially approve it until July 4. For this reason, John Adams considered July 2 as the actual date of independence.

Only two men actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776: John Hancock and Charles Thomson. The other 56 signatures were attached on Aug. 2, 1776.

The youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence was Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, who was 26 years old at the time. The oldest was Benjamin Franklin, who signed the document when he was 70.

Of the 56 signatories of the Declaration of Independence, only six signed the Constitution, which was ratified in 1787. One of those six was Benjamin Franklin, the other five being George Clymer, Robert Morris, George Read, Roger Sherman, and James Wilson.

About 200 copies of the Declaration of Independence were first printed and distributed by a printer named John Dunlap, of which 26 known copies, known as the Dunlap Broadside, are still known to exist.

In 1989, a browser at a flea market in Adamstown, Pa., picked up an old picture frame for $4, only to discover that the frame had an original copy of the Declaration of Independence tucked inside. It later sold for $8.1 million.

Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, 50 years to the day that the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress. The only signer of the Declaration of Independence to outlive both Adams and Jefferson was Charles Carroll of Maryland, who died at age 95 in 1832.