What year was the United States Declaration of Independence signed?

The story behind the answer

1776 is correct because the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776, and most delegates signed the formal engrossed parchment on August 2, 1776 (with a few signatures added later). Thus, both the adoption and the principal signing occurred in 1776.

Drafted chiefly by Thomas Jefferson with input from John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, the Declaration proclaimed the colonies’ independence and asserted natural rights and government by consent—ideas that influenced revolutions worldwide. Memory tip: think “7/4/76”—the Fourth of July locks the year to 1776. Also note that 1777 is the year the Articles of Confederation were adopted, helping eliminate that distractor.