• The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence included future Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Members of the United States Congress.
• John Hancock, President of the Second Continental Congress and a Governor of Massachusetts, was the first to sign; he used such a large, bold script that people now speak of a ‘John Hancock’ to mean a signature.
• The Declaration of Independence, along with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, is on public display at the Rotunda of the National Archives in Washington, DC.

Lesson Plan from the American Association of School Librarians: The Declaration of Independence

To learn more, and to read the full text of the Declaration of Independence, see The Charters of Freedom and 100 Milestone Documents sites from the National Archives.