250th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Declaration of Independence
Record date: 2026-07-08
Proclamation 11039 of July 3, 2026 250th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Declaration of Independence A Proclamation Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Founders of our great Republic gathered in Philadelphia to fulfill a God-given destiny—the freedom and Independence of the United States of America. Fifty-six men—representing legions of freedom-loving Patriots sprawled across 13 Colonies—pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to sign a legendary charter of freedom and declare America's promise that all men are created equal and have the sovereign right to Life, Liberty,
What this record contains
- Federal Register document
- 2026-13842
- Publication date
- 2026-07-08
- Citation
- 91 FR 42309
- Issuing office
- Executive Office of the President
Official record excerpt
Proclamation 11039 of July 3, 2026 250th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Declaration of Independence A Proclamation Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Founders of our great Republic gathered in Philadelphia to fulfill a God-given destiny—the freedom and Independence of the United States of America. Fifty-six men—representing legions of freedom-loving Patriots sprawled across 13 Colonies—pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to sign a legendary charter of freedom and declare America's promise that all men are created equal and have the sovereign right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. On that sweltering summer day in the heart of Pennsylvania, these noble Patriots not only raised up a new nation, but immortalized in our Declaration of Independence a series of sacred truths that transcend time and place—creating the single greatest force for virtue, peace, prosperity, and greatness on the face of the Earth. In June of 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia rose before the Second Continental Congress and moved that the American Colonies cast off the bonds of British rule and stand among the civilizations of the Earth as free and independent states. Thomas Jefferson was entrusted with giving that historic resolve its language, laboring over every line until the Congress adopted his immortal words on a momentous July day. The 56 men who signed their names to Jefferson's Declaration pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to a single revolutionary truth: “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” For 8 long and bloody years, American patriots led by General George Washington took up arms to defend this creed, enduring brutal hardship and immeasurable sacrifice so that the flame of liberty might live. They fired the first shots of the Revolution at Lexington and Concord, held the line at Bunker Hill against great odds, crossed the icy Delaware on Christmas night to deliver a decisive blow against enemy forces, and endured the bitter winter of Valley Forge until the indominable spirit that would come to define our Nation humbled the mightiest military on Earth at Yorktown, securing for all posterity the blessings of American Liberty. It was this distinctly American Spirit of faith, grit, adventure, courage, resolve, and self-determination that breathed life into our Republic, and has unfailingly nurtured our Nation, our people, our liberty, and our way of life ever since. From that hard-fought victory, a handful of colonies nestled on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean grew and within a few generations flourished into the strongest and wealthiest Republic in human history. Answering the call of destiny, Americans pressed westward across an untamed continent, turning open prairie into golden farmland and raising from the wilderness magnificent cities that towered above a vast and growing people. When civil war threatened to tear the Nation asunder, Americans fought and bled to preserve the Union, striking the shackles of slavery from millions and binding the country together once more. In the wake of that struggle, our ( printed page 42310) ancestors forged a new country in the fires of industry, building vast mills that poured molten steel, drilling deep for the oil that fueled their prosperity, and harnessing the power of electricity to light their cities and raise skyscrapers ever higher into the heavens. In the last century's darkest hours, it was the United States of America that emerged triumphant from two world wars, defeating the forces of evil at every turn and liberating millions around the globe from the cruelest tyrannies humanity has faced. Time and again, the ingenuity of America has continued to defy the limits of the possible. Americans lifted humanity into the skies and walked upon the surface of the Moon, planting our beautiful flag in ancient dust where no other nation had ever stood, as our gaze turned toward the galaxies beyond. The inventions of American minds—the telephone, the personal computer, the internet—knit the world together as never before, opening a new age of connection and commerce that placed limitless knowledge at humanity's fingertips and carried the promise of prosperity to every corner of the Earth.
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