Res. No. 5

Resolution commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States of America

By The Speaker (Council Member Menin) and Council Member Carr

Whereas, On July 2, 1776, the members of the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and voted unanimously to approve a resolution submitted by delegate Richard Henry Lee of Virginia that declared “[t]hat these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved”; and

Whereas, After the vote on July 2, the delegates began to edit the draft of a document that was designed to explain their actions to the public and that was originally written by the Committee of Five, consisting of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston of New York, who did not stay in Philadelphia to sign the finished document, but later, after serving in many official capacities, administered the oath of office to President George Washington in New York City (NYC); and

Whereas, The delegates took two days to edit the document, whose primary author became Thomas Jefferson, and approved the final version of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776; and

Whereas, Subsequently, 56 individuals from state delegations signed the Declaration of Independence; and

Whereas, The signers representing New York were William Floyd, a 41-year-old land speculator born in Brookhaven, New York; Philip Livingston, a 60-year-old merchant born in Albany, New York; Lewis Morris, a 50-year-old plantation owner born in West Chester County, New York; and Francis Lewis, a 63-year-old wealthy merchant and political radical, born in Wales, whose Whitestone, Queens, estate was pillaged and whose wife was imprisoned by the British during the Revolutionary War after the Battle of Brooklyn in August, 1776; and

Whereas, Fifty years later in a June 24, 1826, letter to Washington, D.C., Mayor Roger Weightman, Jefferson wrote of the importance of the anniversary of the declaration of the colonies’ independence, saying “[f]or ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them”; and

Whereas, It is fitting that the 250th anniversary of an independent U.S. be celebrated as Jefferson imagined 200 years ago when he wrote about “an undiminished devotion” to the unalienable rights of the people of a new nation; and

Whereas, The United States (U.S.) Congress passed Public Law 114-96 in July 2016 to establish the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission (“the Commission”), finding “that July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, as marked by the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the historic events preceding that anniversary-(1) are of major significance in the development of the national heritage of the United States of individual liberty, representative government, and the attainment of equal and inalienable rights; and (2) have had a profound influence throughout the world”; and

Whereas, The Commission created America250, a bipartisan initiative that has designed a multifaceted celebration to engage Americans in programming and events at the local, state, and national levels; and

Whereas, In February 2022, New York State (NYS) Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the New York State 250th Commemoration Act (“the Act”), which created a commission to facilitate a statewide celebration; and

Whereas, The justification for the Act noted that NYS played “an immense role” in the preparation for and execution of the American Revolution; and

Whereas, The justification for the Act also noted that the American Revolution was “imperfect and many, including women, African Americans, and Native Americans, did not benefit from its ideals of liberty and freedom”; and

Whereas, The justification for the Act further explained that “the struggle to fully realize the ideals of the Revolution has continued over the past 250 years as is evident in New York's leading role in such revolutionary civil rights movements as the women’s rights and abolitionist movements, the underground railroad, and the LGBTQ movement” and that the 250th anniversary “offers a great opportunity to educate and inspire the people” of NYS regarding the ongoing struggle to form a more perfect union; and

Whereas, In celebration locally, NYC residents may take part in and enjoy parades, street festivals, fireworks displays, museum exhibitions, cultural programs, a spectacle of tall ships and naval vessels, and more; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York commemorates the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.

LS #21297

1/22/2026

RHP