America250 looks back to 1776 as the founding year marked by the Declaration of Independence.
The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776. The document declared that the Thirteen Colonies were free and independent states and set out the reasons for ending their political relationship with Great Britain.
The year 1776 is a symbolic founding date, but the United States’ political development continued for years afterward. The Revolutionary War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the Constitution was signed in 1787, and the new federal government began operating in 1789.
That sequence explains why different historical milestones can sometimes be described as “the founding” of the United States. America250 specifically counts 250 years from the Declaration’s adoption, so its anniversary arithmetic is 1776 plus 250, producing 2026.