The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It was engrossed on parchment, and on August 2, 1776, delegates began signing it. Our reproduction print shows that scene as imagined by renowned painter John Trumbull. Printed on acid-free paper, this matted print is ready to be framed.

John Trumbull (1756–1843), artist and diplomat, was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, and graduated from Harvard College (later Harvard University) in 1773. During the American Revolution, he served as an aide-de-camp to George Washington in 1775 and as deputy adjutant general of the Continental Army’s Northern Department from 1776 to 1777. On February 6, 1817, Congress commissioned Trumbull to produce “four paintings commemorative of the most important events of the American Revolution.” In 1824, he completed the twelve-by-eighteen-foot artworks: The Declaration of Independence, The Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, and The Resignation of General Washington.

A similarly iconic piece of artwork, and likewise just a symbolic representation of the event, is Berry Faulkner's Declaration Mural. Housed in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., the mural shows the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence together in the same painting. It is displayed right above the original Declaration of Independence.

According to oral history, in 1776, George Washington, Robert Morris, and George Ross visited Betsy Ross at her upholstery shop in Philadelphia. Washington presented a sketch of a flag for Betsy to make, comprised of 13 red and white stripes and 13 six-pointed stars.

On May 29, 1777, Betsy Ross was paid by the Pennsylvania State Navy Board for making flags. On June 14, 1777, Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as our official national flag.