John Dunlap

John Dunlap (1747–1812) was a Philadelphia publisher and the official printer to the Continental Congress. From his Market Street workshop, he operated a commercial press and established The Pennsylvania Packet newspaper. In 1773, Dunlap printed Benjamin Rush’s influential anti-slavery pamphlet, "An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements, on the Slavery of the Negroes in America." He also executed the initial official printings of the foundational documents of the United States. On July 4, 1776, his shop printed the first broadside copies of the Declaration of Independence for public distribution, and in 1787, his firm printed the first official copies of the United States Constitution.