<Tr> <Th> Participants </Th> <Td> Delegates to the Second Continental Congress </Td> </Tr> <P> 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 former colonies which had declared themselves the "United States of America," and they endorsed the Declaration of Independence which the Congress had approved on July 4, 1776 . The Declaration proclaimed that the former Thirteen Colonies then at war with Great Britain were now a sovereign, independent nation and thus no longer a part of the British Empire . The signers' names are grouped by state, with the exception of President of the Continental Congress John Hancock; the states are arranged geographically from north to south . </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> 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 1777, and the entry for July 4 states that the Declaration was engrossed and signed on that date (the official copy was handwritten). </P>

When did congress approve the declaration of independence
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