July 4, 2026: The 250th Anniversary

July 4, 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — a rare moment to pause, remember, celebrate, and ask what kind of country we are still becoming.

The Declaration gave powerful voice to the ideals of liberty, equality, and self-government. Our democracy was also shaped by many streams of wisdom, including Indigenous models of governance, such as the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, whose ideas of council, balance, and shared responsibility helped inspire early American thinking. At the same time, many of the promises of democracy were left unfinished — for Indigenous peoples, enslaved people, women, the poor, immigrants, and the living Earth itself.

Interdependence Day does not reject July 4th. It deepens it. It invites us to honor the courage of independence while remembering that no person, community, nation, or species truly stands alone. Freedom becomes more real when it is rooted in relationship, responsibility, and care for the whole.

For the 250th anniversary, we invite communities to celebrate with songs, rituals, poetry, ancestry potlucks, land and ancestor acknowledgments, conversations about democracy, and simple gathering guides that help people remember: we belong to one another, and to the living Earth.