John Dunlap
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John Dunlap (1747 – November 27, 1812) was the printer of the first copies of the Declaration of Independence. He was born in Strabane, Ireland, in 1747, and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 27, 1812. While a boy he went to live with an uncle, William Dunlap, a printer and publisher in Philadelphia, and entered the business in November, 1771. He began the publication of the Pennsylvania Packet. This paper was changed into a daily in 1784, the first in the United States, and afterward became the "North American and United States Gazette."
Mr. Dunlap was appointed printer to Congress, and first printed the "Declaration of Independence." He was an officer in the first troop of Philadelphia cavalry, which became the body-guard of George Washington at Trenton and Princeton. In 1780 he gave £4,000 to supply provisions to the Continental Army.
In July 1776, fighting between the American colonists and the British forces had been going on for nearly a year. The Continental Congress had been meeting since June, wrestling with the question of independence. Finally, late in the afternoon on July 4, 1776 twelve of the thirteen colonies reached agreement to declare the new states as a free and independent nation. New York was the lone holdout. That evening John Hancock ordered Dunlap to print broadside copies of the agreed-upon declaration that was signed by him as President and Charles Thomson as Secretary. John Dunlap printed 200 broadsides that evening which were distributed to the members of Congress.
