<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>
what was the date of the signing of the declaration of independence
primarily on August 2 , 1776