[keving]

The declaration was not printed the same day. It should be July 2, 1776 @ 2 PM.

[Verginius Rufus]

The vote for independence was taken on July 2nd and John Adams, when he wrote to Abigail, thought that would be the date that would be celebrated in later years. Already in 1777 the Fourth of July was the day being celebrated.

The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4 and immediately printed (with the names only of John Hancock and Charles Thomson). The engrossed parchment copy was prepared some days later and signed by most of the delegates on August 2, 1776 (but a few signed later). The last of the Signers (that is, the last to die), Charles Carroll of Carrollton, was only chosen as a delegate on July 4 and did not get there until a couple of weeks later.