Sharing the Spirit of America
This is a nationwide program initiated and sponsored by the Hawai‘i America250 Commission.
We are happy to share a project related to America250 and the Declaration of Independence - “Sharing the Spirit of America”. The premise of ‘Sharing the Spirit of America’ is pretty simple, and its implementation is equally simple – and it has limited cost in doing so.
Just as the Declaration of Independence was read to the people on July 8, 1776, now, 250-years later, Americans in all 50 States and 16 Territories of the United States will read the Declaration of Independence ‘together’.
Even though the United States is spread across thousands of miles and nine different time zones, all of us in America may read the Declaration of Independence ‘together’, at the ‘same’ time. Unlike the extent of the Colonies in 1776, today, America spans about 9,500-miles from one extreme to the other (the Caribbean across North America to the western edge of the Pacific).
With a start time based on 6 pm (EDT), July 8, 2026 (commemorating the first public reading), people in communities across America will begin reading the Declaration of Independence. A schedule is noted in the attached that correlates the relative time in each portion of America, based on its own timekeeping.
Additional information on Sharing the Spirit of America is in the following:
(*) The first two consolidated files have all of the information found in the subsequent associated documents.
The following associated documents are individual components from the consolidated files:
Just as the Declaration of Independence was read for the first time to the people of Philadelphia on July 8, 1776, Americans in all 50 States and 16 Territories will read the Declaration on July 8, 2026.