"Officially, the Congress declared its freedom from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, when it approved a resolution in a unanimous vote.
After voting on independence on July 2, the group needed to draft a document explaining the move to the public. It had been proposed in draft form by the Committee of Five (John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson) and it took two days for the Congress to agree on the edits. Thomas Jefferson was the main author.
Once the Congress approved the actual Declaration of Independence document on July 4, it was sent to a printer named John Dunlap."
https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-the-declaration-of-independence-is-officially-signed
2 days early