Year of Celebration and Rededication, 2026

Proclamation 11007 of January 29, 2026 Year of Celebration and Rededication, 2026 A Proclamation On January 1, 2026, the United States began our year-long commemoration of an important milestone in the history of our country: 250 years of American freedom and independence. Two and a half centuries ago, on July 4, 1776, thousands of years' worth of wisdom, philosophy, and culture were brought together in Philadelphia where delegates to the Second Continental Congress gathered to declare the birth of a new nation—“conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”—and, in so doing, launched the single greatest force for goodness, justice, prosperity, and human flourishing the world has ever known. As we celebrate the 250th year since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we acknowledge with gratitude and pride that July 4, 1776, represents the most seminal political event in all of human history. Unlike other nations, America's Founding was rooted in the belief that every man, woman, and child is “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This conviction, enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, and indelibly etched upon every American heart, remains the bedrock of our government and the crown jewel of Western civilization. For 250 years, the burning flame of liberty has been passed down from one generation to the next, and has carried our Nation and our people to heights that our Founding Fathers could have never dreamed. Guided by the example of Founding Fathers like George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and other American patriots who helped light the torch of liberty in 1776, let us ask our Creator to bless America, free our Nation and our people from all threats to our safety and happiness, and to guide our actions for the security and common good of all Americans. This y…